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27 September 2022 | Story André Damons | Photo Charl Devenish
Prof Martin Nyanga
Prof Martin Nyaga, Associate Professor in the UFS-NGS Unit and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre (WHO CC), says the UFS researchers – through the Division of Virology/NHLS and the UFS-NGS Unit – were involved in the major publication as part of the NGS-SA consortium from the study design phase, ethics applications, and throughout the study.
Researchers from the University of the Free State (UFS) Next Generation Sequencing (UFS-NGS) Unit and Division of Virology/ National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) were part of a major publication featuring hundreds of authors from Africa who did research on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

The scientific publication in the journal Science (impact factor 47.728) featured more than 300 scientists and public health officials from Africa and abroad, who worked together to look into the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, the viral agent causing COVID-19. It was the first collaborative study of this nature conducted in Africa during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The publication became available online on 15 September this year. 

According to a press release by the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) at Stellenbosch University and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), this was the largest consortium of African scientists and public health institutions working together to support data-driven COVID-19 response in Africa. This collaboration was led by two labs (CERI and KRISP) and the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) consortium, of which the UFS-NGS Unit and Division of Virology are founding members, in close coordination with the Africa CDC, WHO/AFRO and 300 other institutions across the continent.

It is an awesome feeling

Prof Martin Nyaga, Associate Professor in the UFS-NGS Unit and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre (WHO CC), says the UFS researchers – through the Division of Virology/NHLS (coordinated by Prof Dominique Goedhals and Mr Philip Armand Bester) and also the UFS-NGS Unit (Prof Nyaga, Dr Peter Mwangi, Mr Milton Mogotsi, and Mr Emmanuel Ogunbayo) – were involved as part of the NGS-SA consortium from the study design phase, ethics applications, and throughout the study, processing the SARS-CoV-2 positive samples for whole-genome sequencing, thus generating significant sequence data of the SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in South Africa.

“It is an awesome feeling to be part of the solution in resolving the COVID-19 pandemic by providing data that would track variants in real time and data used to implement prophylactic solutions, such as vaccine development, against a virus that was a global threat,” says Prof Nyaga. 

According to him, the utility of next-generation sequencing technologies in understanding genomics of diseases was clearly demonstrated in this study and will assist in addressing future diseases/pandemics. These genomic studies provide deeper insights regarding diseases, and they will provide timely solutions to solving diseases affecting the Mother Continent.

UFS Free State variants study

Prof Nyaga says their Free State variants study, which was also recently published in the journal Frontiers in Virology, performed analysis of samples from patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 throughout all the COVID-19 waves. “We aimed to determine whether the variants driving the epidemic waves at the national level were also driving the epidemic waves at the local level, in the context of the Free State province. The data further indicates that SARS-CoV-2 variants driving the epidemic waves in the Free State at the local level correlated with the ones driving the epidemic waves at the national level. Findings from this study highlight the importance of continued genomic surveillance and monitoring of the circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants to inform public health efforts and ensure adequate control of the ongoing pandemic. 

“Our data has been incorporated into the analyses of the bigger continent-wide collaboration on genomics surveillance to determine how the majority of COVID-19 variants were introduced into Africa, which has now been published in the journal Science,” says Prof Nyaga.  
The publication highlights that sustained investment in diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa was needed to not only help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent, but to establish a platform to address the emerging, re-emerging, endemic infectious disease threats, such as Ebola, HIV/Aids, TB, malaria, and enteric disease-causing viruses.

News Archive

UFS academic discusses Dutch, Afrikaans and African languages
2006-05-22

During the colloquium presented in Belgium by the Province Antwerp were from the left Prof Pol Cuvelier (University of Antwerp), Prof Theo du Plessis (Director: Unit for Language Management at the UFS), Mr Ludo Helsen (Permanent Deputy: Province of Antwerp) and Mr Jean-Pierre Rondas (Flemish radio journalist).

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UFS academic discusses Dutch, Afrikaans and African languages at international conference

Prof Theo du Plessis, Director of the Unit for Language Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), was the main speaker at a colloquium titled “Routes:  Where to now? - Een traject van het Nederlands naar het Afrikaans en de Afrikatalen”, which was recently presented by the Province Antwerp in Belgium.

 The aim of the colloquium was to discuss the future cooperation in the field of language between the Province Antwerp and South Africa. 

 The Province Antwerp is already involved with projects in South Africa.  One of these projects is the Multilingual Information Development Programme (MIDP), a partnership project between the UFS and the Free State Province that is mainly funded by the Province Antwerp. 

 The project has been running since 1999 and was recently in the news with the presentation of a symposium on multilingualism and exclusion on the Main Campus of the UFS.  It is hoped that the Routes colloquium will indicate new stages on which can be added to the already successful cooperation in the area of language.

 Prof Du Plessis’s presentation titled “Nederlands, Afrikaans en die Afrikatale – kan samewerking slaag? Die geval MIDP in die Vrystaat”, investigated the successes that have been made with the MIDP.  He discussed two possible approaches to cooperation in the areas of language, that of a sentimentalistic  approach against an instrumentalistic approach. 

Cooperation in the first approach makes language the aim.  In the second approach language is used as a means to a greater aim.  According to Prof du Plessis the first approach is driven by a romantisised idea about the relation between the Flemish and Afrikaans speaking people, which may unfortunately polarise the position of Afrikaans in South Africa even further.

 He argues that, given the time that we are in, the second approach will deliver more constructive results as language can among others be used for to further  democracy in South Africa.   This can happen by cooperation in the institutionalising of multilingualism in our society.  The more languages are used in education, law and government administration, the more we can be assured a successful democracy.

 The Routes colloquium was facilitated by the well-known Flemish radio journalist, Jean-Pierre Rondas. About twenty South African and Flemish language specialists took part in the colloquium.  Dr Fritz Kok, outgoing chief executive officer of the ATKV took part in the opening ceremony and Dr Neville Alexander from the University of Cape Town and well-known activist for multilingualism in South Africa was also one of the main speakers.

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