universit y of kw azulu-na tal research repor t 2008/2009 - UKZN ...

South african reSearch chairS initiative (Sarchi)South african reSearch chairS initiative (Sarchi)Chair in IndigenousHealth Care SystemsProfessor Nceba Gqalenigqalenin@ukzn.ac.zaChair in Systems Biology ofHIV and AIDSProfessor Thumbi Ndung’undungu@ukzn.ac.zaLeading medical scientist at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine,LProfessor Nceba Gqaleni, occupies the Chair in Indigenous HealthLCare Systems and conducts basic and applied research into traditionalLmedicine and African Health Care systems.LThe Chair is essential in providing the academic link betweenLnational policy and implementation. Indigenous Health Care SystemsResearch relates to activities aimed at improving the African traditionalhealth system’s capacity to handle the increased service requirementsin such a way that it plays a meaningful role in promoting and improvingthe health of patients. This platform will promote bidirectional referralsbetween traditional health practitioners and public health centres, anddocument ethnomedical evidence, bioprospecting and other mechanismsto evaluate plant-based and herbal mixtures for biological activity withtherapeutic efficacy in the areas of cancer, TB, and HIV/AIDS.The Chair will – through research – contribute to developingscientifically proven African traditional medicines and also to theinstitutionalisation of the African traditional health care system. Variousprojects currently exist and include the United States governmentfundedBiomedical and Traditional Healing Collaboration on HIV/AIDS, the NIH/NCCAM funded traditional medicine clinical trial atEdendale Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, and the Department of Scienceand Technology IKS Bioprospecting Programme.Chair in Gravitating SystemsProfessor Thumbi Ndung’u holds the position of Associate Professor inPHIV/AIDS Research at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is DirectorPof the HIV Pathogenesis Programme (HPP), a collaborative initiativePbetween UKZN, Harvard Medical School and University of Oxford.PHPP is dedicated to understanding host-pathogens interactions in HIVPand TB infections, particularly immune responses and to the training ofglobally competitive African scientists.Professor Ndung’u, his team and their collaborators are currentlystudying how certain individuals are able to resist HIV-1 infectiondespite evidence of persistent exposure and how certain HIV-1 infectedpeople are able to achieve relative control of HIV-1 replication. Theknowledge gained from studies of people able to resist or control HIV-1may eventually be used to develop novel vaccines or therapies againstHIV and AIDS.A graduate of the University of Nairobi and Harvard University,Professor Ndung’u is a molecular virologist by training based atthe Doris Duke Medical Research Institute at UKZN’s NelsonR Mandela School of Medicine. In 2007 he was awardedthe prestigious Vice-Chancellor’s Research Award forexceptional research and research-related scholarlyactivities. He was previously awarded the Edgar HaberAward at Harvard University for outstanding doctoral thesis research.Professor Ndung’u’s previous significant research accomplishmentsinclude the development of the first full-length infectious clone of HIV-1C from Africa, an important reagent for detailed genetic studies of thisstrain. This genetic tool allows for various studies on drug sensitivityand vaccine design to be conducted. He is also credited with thegeneration of a subtype C simian human immunodeficiency virus(SHIV), a genetic chimera between HIV and SIV viruses that allows theuse of rhesus monkey models to conduct HIV vaccine tests. Recently,his group has contributed to the understanding of adaptive and innateimmune mechanisms against HIV-1 in patients and viral adaptation tothese responses.Professor Ndung’u’s main research interests are in the host-virusinteractions underlying HIV and AIDS pathogenesis andantiviral immune responses. He is also interested inthe development of biomedical interventions thatcan be used in resource-limited settings to stopthe spread of HIV and AIDS.He is currently Co-Chair of the Young andEarly Career Investigators Committee (YECIC)of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise.Professor Sunil Maharajmaharaj@ukzn.ac.zaProfessor Sunil Maharaj is the holder of the prestigious South AfricanPResearch Chair in Gravitating Systems. In 2009 he was made a FellowPof UKZN for his research contributions.Professor Maharaj, who is the Director of the Astrophysics and PCosmology Research Unit in the School of Mathematical Sciences,focuses his primary research on the modelling of astrophysicalprocesses in relativistic stars and the mathematics of large scaledynamics in cosmology.His contribution, in collaboration with many MSc and PhD students,to science and technology is manifested in his work on gravitationalforces within the context provided by Einstein’s theory of generalrelativity. These works include: exact solutions of the Einstein Fieldequations, the structure of ultra compact stars and the thermodynamicsof radiating matter.38 UKZN Research Report // 2008/2009 UKZN Research Report // 2008/2009 39