Prof Thumbi Ndung'u exclusively talks to Joy Wanja Muraya on creating the first infectious molecular clone for HIV-1 subtype C, the strain largely responsible for the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa and the promise of a cure for HIV
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His passion lies in finding lasting home-grown solutions to HIV and Aids and tuberculosis, the conditions that largely affect sub-Saharan Africans.
For two decades, professor Thumbi Ndung'u has dedicated his life to understanding how the immune system fights off HIV and tuberculosis, and he is optimistic that the knowledge he has will lead to the elimination of the two health conditions.
He vows not to rest until he finds a solution.
As World Aids Day is marked on Tuesday, December 1, with the campaign focusing on zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero HIV and Aids-related deaths, this South Africa-based Kenyan professor is working towards finding a vaccine or cure for HIV and Aids.
A renown scientist both in and out of Africa, professor Ndung'u is celebrated for creating the first infectious molecular clone for HIV-1 subtype C, the strain that is largely responsible for the HIV and Aids epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa which has more than half — 56 per cent — of all infections in the world.
He admits that developing an infectious clone was difficult and to explain the cloning concept, he gives the analogy of a cassette recording of the entire genetic information of the human immunodeficiency virus.
"Every time you need to use the virus in a well-controlled experiment in the laboratory, you can then get that infectious molecular clone and put it in a cell to make copies of it," he explained during an exclusive interview with Sunday Magazine.
Prof Ndung'u is an investigator at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH) and a full professor at the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine which is hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa.
Upon completing his doctorate in 2001 at Harvard University where he studied virology, he took up a post-doctoral position at the same institution working on an HIV vaccine.
Four years later, in 2005, professor Ndung'u accepted an offer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal as scientific director of the HIV Pathogenesis Programme.
Today, he has wholly dedicated his life to study how the immune system interacts and influences progression of the condition.
He focuses on individuals in the earliest stages of infection and leads a team that studies immune responses against HIV in blood samples of newly infected patients in the KwaZulu-Natal area.
In his research, he isolates the virus, and tracks its evolution to understand why it eventually overwhelms the immune system.
He believes this will inform him and the team on how a HIV vaccine would work.
When should we expect the HIV vaccine?
He admits that this is a frequently asked question when he discusses his work.
Whereas he does not know when it should be expected due to the ability of the virus to change itself (mutate) and hide in non-replicating cells, he is optimistic that the dynamic team he leads will deliver the vaccine or contribute significantly to its development.
Professor Ndung'u believes that working in Africa, among the population that is mostly affected by both TB and HIV and Aids, presents the perfect research opportunity to study the conditions in the affected persons and also contribute to the public health challenges they pose.
"We hope to move from a theoretical to practical understanding of the immune response," he says.
As a career scientist, his ultimate goal is to reduce human suffering caused by these two diseases that are the leading causes of illness and death in sub-Saharan Africa.
His first interaction with investigating viruses was during his undergraduate studies. He was working under the tutelage of Professor George Kinoti who was investigating a parasitic worm known as schistosomiasis (bilharzia).
That is how a research seed was sowed in him, and it grew when he won a scholarship to Harvard to pursue a doctorate in biological sciences.
He explains that he received a culture shock at the globally acclaimed graduate school and was expected to write a research paper and present assignments using complicated computer programmes yet he had no experience working with computers.
"I almost boarded the next flight home but I stayed and spent longer hours learning the ropes," he says.
He also had a wife and a child, and to make ends meets, he worked as a newspaper deliveryman.
"Delivering newspapers taught me resilience, especially during winters, because the work had to be done."
His diligence and perseverance paid off, and at the end of his doctorate, he won the coveted Edgar Haber award for outstanding, original and creative dissertation work.
The award is bestowed on the best student who makes a fundamental contribution to understand a biological problem of importance in public health.
"Considering that I grew up on a coffee farm with no technology, this award was a great recognition," he says.
"I was brought up in Gathugu village in Githunguri on a coffee farm where we also had cows, sheep and goats.
"These domestic animals made me develop an interest in animal science and after my studies at Gathugu Primary School and later at Nyeri High School, veterinary science turned out to be my best bet."
He says his father and brother, who had studied architecture encouraged him to be a high achiever.
"My father was the head teacher at Gitare Primary School and my mother was a housewife and they drove all of us towards academic excellence," says professor Ndung'u, who is the sixth child among 11. "We worked hard, and my siblings are in various professional fields."
He adds that he has been lucky to work under, and be guided by some of the best brains in research and science in Kenya. He believes that Africa can become a hub of top scientists.
Three months ago, professor Ndung'u was among seven leading African researchers who received funding for setting up an African-led consortium of research institutions to work on HIV and TB.
The Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence received received 11 million dollars from Wellcome Trust and the Department for International Development.
The outfit will be home to research and a mentorship programme for African scientists in 12 partner institutions and research sites in South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.
"We are here because we believe that we have the capability to solve this important problem," he says. "If you do not have a passion, you may as well not do it, because research is not easy."
As a beneficiary of dedicated mentors, he believes in mentoring the next crop of researchers.
"We need to train the next generation of African scientists to handle health disasters and to transform society," he says, adding that health is wealth.
"With the dedicated scientists Africa has, I believe HIV vaccine will come from this continent," he says.
