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Find your passion, persevere and pursue excellence – honorary doctorate Prof Salim Abdool Karim

19 April 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo Stephen Collett

Prof Salim Karim — Prof Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Free State (left) and Prof Gert Van Zyl, Faculty of Health Sciences Dean (right) conferred Prof Salim S Abdool Karim honorary doctorate for his ground-breaking research in AIDS and COVID-19. He received the degree PhD in Medical Virology (h.c.) during the Faculty of Health Sciences graduation ceremony.

With the case study of Caprise 256, a young woman in his AIDS study, and her potent antibody that kills HIV, Prof Salim S Abdool Karim, honorary doctorate recipient, conveyed the message of the power of science, knowledge and discovery to motivate the graduates from the Faculties of Health Sciences and Theology and Religion at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Prof Karim, renowned for his ground-breaking research in AIDS and COVID-19, received the degree PhD in Medical Virology (h.c.) during Thursday’s (18 April 2024) graduation ceremony.

From humble beginnings

“It is great honour and privilege to be here and accept this honorary doctorate. I first went to university in 1978 and wanted to study engineering but did not have the money to pay for registration as I come from a poor background. So, I attended classes anywhere. But then I was accepted to study medicine at the University of Natal with a full scholarship and that was the end of my career in engineering.

“From that humble beginning to today where you might have watched me on TV trying to share with you what we know about COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, is a great culmination of a career and I am deeply honoured and privileged to receive this honorary doctorate”, he said shortly after accepting his fifth honorary degree.

Prof Abdool Karim, a clinical infectious disease epidemiologist who is widely recognised for scientific contributions to AIDS and COVID-19, also shared with graduates the last 20 years of his academic journey with an example to illustrate how exciting the acquisition of knowledge and thrill of discovery can be. He talked about his work with AIDS and says it remains one of the world’s greatest challenges. Last year, he said, there were 1.3 million new infections and over 700 000 deaths as a result of AIDS.

Caprisa 256’s antibody

“I have devoted almost 40 years of research to looking for solutions for the AIDS problem and one of the biggest problems we are dealing with is the high rate of HIV, particularly in young girls. In 2003 we started a study to begin to understand why young women are at such a high risk of HIV.

“We enrolled hundreds of young women without HIV. We provided them with all kinds of knowledge to try and keep them HIV-free. Amongst those women we enrolled was participant 256, a young lady and she acquired HIV infection two years later in 2005.”

It would later turn out that this young woman, codename Caprisa 256, has a very special antibody – the kind that can kill a wide range of HIV – which is referred to as a broadly neutralising antibody. It is an antibody researchers tried to ellicit in making vaccine.

It turned out that not only is her antibody able to kill a wide range of HIV, it is a highly potent antibody. After testing and cloning a cell in the blood and growing it in a culture and harvesting the antibody, it was genetically manipulated to get a better antibody.

The Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (Caprisa), explained that it took two-and-a-half years to manufacture this antibody in the US and the first South African was injected with it in 2020. They enrolled over 1 000 women in a study with half of the women receiving the placebo and half the antibody. The question whether it works, or protects humans from the HIV will only be answered next year, Prof Abdool Karim explained.

The 3 Ps

“What I am trying to convey to you, it’s the power of science, the power of knowledge, the power of discovery and when each of you goes out into the world, I want to leave you with the message that there are three valuable lessons that I have learned in this 20-year journey of Caprisa 256.

“The first one is find your passion, find something that excites you when you wake up in the morning. There will be people that would want to pull you down, you will have to stand firm. You have to show that you are passionate and committed and regardless of the obstacles, you will persevere. Find your passion and persevere. And as you do that, always remember the pursuit of excellence. I know that each of you will bring to this world your own humanity, your own values, and we are in this world, in a situation where we are in desperate need of people who will bring their humanity and their wisdom to bear.”

Prof Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UFS, congratulated Prof Abdool Karim on his honorary degree and praised his groundbreaking research on Aids and COVID-19, as well as his exceptional work in medical virology over the years. “Prof Abdool Karim led the South African response to COVID-19, providing us as the public, as well as the government with scientific advice on the virus, new variants, and flattening the curve. Prof Abdool Karim has the ability to easily explain complex science to members of the general public in such a way that they are able to understand it. He played a critical role during the pandemic, and for this as well as for his research on Aids, South Africa is indebted to him.

News Archive

Dr Francois Deacon appears in international film, Last of the Longnecks, due to research on giraffes

2017-04-04

Dr Francois Deacon was invited by the producer of Last
of the Longnecks to be part of a panel handling a question-
and-answer-session about the film.
Photo: Supplied

A great honour was bestowed on a researcher at the University of the Free State (UFS) when he was invited to the preview of the documentary film, Last of the Longnecks. Dr Francois Deacon, lecturer and researcher in the Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences at the UFS, who also has a role in the film, attended the preview at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Smithsonian National Museum in Washington DC, in the US, in March this year. The preview formed part of the DC Environmental Film Festival.

The Environmental Film Festival in the US capital is the world’s leading showcase of films with an environmental theme and which aims to improve the public’s understanding of the environment through the power of film. During the festival, the largest such festival in the US, more than 150 films were shown to an audience of 30 000 plus.

Dr Deacon was invited by the producer of Last of the Longnecks to be part of a panel handling a question-and-answer-session about the film directly after the show. He described it as the greatest moment of his life.

Role in the film Last of the Longnecks

“My role in the film was as the researcher studying giraffes in their natural habitat in order to understand them better, so that we may better protect them, and be able to provide better education on the problem in Africa,” says Dr Deacon.

“Together with Prof Nico Smit, also from the UFS Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences, Hennie Butler from the Department of Zoology, and Martin Haupt from Africa Wildlife Tracking, we were the first researchers in the world to equip giraffes with GPS collars and to conduct research on this initiative,” he says. This ground-breaking research has attracted international media attention to Dr Deacon and Prof Smit.

“Satellite tracking is proving to be extremely valuable in the wildlife environment. The unit is based on a mobile global two-way communication platform, utilising two-way data satellite communication, complete with GPS systems.

“It allows us to track animals day and night, while we monitor their movements remotely from a computer over a period of a few years. These systems make the efficient control and monitoring of wildlife in all weather conditions and in near-to-real time possible. We can even communicate with the animals, calling up their positions or changing the tracking schedules,” says Dr Deacon.

The collars, which have been designed to follow giraffes, enable researchers to obtain and apply highly accurate data in order to conduct research. Data can be analysed to determine territory, distribution or habitat preference for any particular species.

Over a period of three years (2014-2016), the Last of the Longnecks team from Iniosante LLC captured on film how Dr Deacon and his team used the GPS collars in Africa to collect data and conduct research on the animals.

“With our research, which aims to understand why giraffes are becoming extinct in Africa, we are looking at the animal in its habitat but not only the animal on its own. If the habitat of these animals is lost, they will be lost as well. Therefore, our focus is on conservation and better understanding the habitat. The giraffe is only a tool to better understand the habitat problem,” says Dr Deacon.

Since the beginning of his research Dr Deacon and his team have had six new collar designs, with animals in four different reserves being equipped with the collars. The collars use the best technology available in the world and make it possible to determine how giraffes communicate over long distances, and how their sleep patterns function. Physiological and biological focus is placed on the giraffe’s stress levels, natural hormone cycles, and milk quality in cows.

Photo: Supplied

Experience at the film festival

“Absolutely amazing. Totally beyond our frame of reference as South Africans.” This is how Dr Deacon describes his experience of the three days in Washington DC during the film festival.

“It was an absolute honour to be part of the global preview of the film and to be able to work with Ashley Davison, the director of the film, and his team. I am just a rural farm boy who dreams big, and now this dream is known worldwide!” he says.

The film, which will be launched in April, will be screened in South Africa on the National Geographic channel in May 2017. Meanwhile, the film will also be shown at eight other film festivals in the US.

Work will start on a follow-up documentary in October and Dr Deacon is excited about the prospect. A mobile X-ray machine will be available from October. Internal sonars could also be performed on each of the animals. Researchers from around the world will form part of the team which will be led and co-ordinated by Dr Deacon and his co-workers at the UFS.

Former articles:

18 Nov 2016: http://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive-item?news=7964
23 August 2016: http://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive-item?news=7856
9 March 2016:Giraffe research broadcast on National Geographic channel
18 Sept 2015 Researchers reach out across continents in giraffe research
29 May 2015: Researchers international leaders in satellite tracking in the wildlife environment

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