Tulio de Oliveira, a Brazilian-Portuguese-South African virologist and geneticist, is revolutionizing the field of virus hunting in Africa. De Oliveira has established two major scientific institutes in South Africa – the Kwazulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform and the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation, which is now the largest genomics center in Africa. These institutes train the next generation of genetic experts and conduct cutting-edge genetic sequencing and analysis on a variety of disease-causing pathogens.
Thanks to de Oliveira’s efforts, African genomics systems are now not only on par with the best in the world but are actually more advanced. In 2024, he was invited by the U.K.’s Wellcome Sanger Institute to become its chief scientific officer, but he chose to focus on establishing Africa as a leading player in genomics instead.
De Oliveira proposed a merger between his institutes and the Wellcome Sanger Institute to combine their strengths in quickly identifying and characterizing pathogens and scaling up genetic sequencing and analysis. Together, they aim to create a more robust global system of disease tracking, with a focus on monitoring the effects of climate change on infectious diseases and human health.
De Oliveira emphasizes that pathogens should be seen as a global issue rather than just a national one as they do not respect borders. His work has had a significant impact on the genomics landscape in Africa, with many current leaders of genomics labs coming from his lab. He believes that African genomics systems are now better equipped than ever before to tackle some of the world’s most pressing health challenges.
