Page Content: Prof Gerhard Walzl compares medical research to being a member of a relay team – the baton has to be passed to retain momentum.
This is a task which he tackles with renewed vigour nowadays. Prof Walzl is the new Head of Stellenbosch University's Department of Biomedical Sciences. He follows in the footsteps of Prof Paul van Helden, who held the position previously. This department of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences includes divisions such as Anatomy, Medical Physiology and Molecular Biology and Human Genetics.
"It remains a huge responsibility to train a new generation of biomedical scientists," Walzl says. "I am really looking forward to fulfilling a more prominent mentorship role in future and co-operating with divisional heads, amongst others, to improve our offering regarding education, learning and research outputs."
Prof Walzl is a renowned researcher in his own right. The Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, which he leads, is involved in the most recent research on inter alia tuberculosis (TB) and hereditary genetic aberrations. Prof Walzl is also Director of the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research.
He mentions that researchers still haven't found answers to the question of why some people are more susceptible to active TB than others. South Africa has the highest incidence of this in the world. Some 900 in every 100 000 South Africans develop TB symptoms every year and need treatment. HIV, as well as social, economic and genetic factors, play a role.
He says researchers in his group are involved in several initiatives to develop new instruments to prevent and treat tuberculosis. Their work includes examining new biomarkers to evaluate new drugs and vaccines faster and developing diagnostic aids to limit the contagiousness of this disease.
Prof Walzl, who "accidentally" ended up in TB research, initially worked as a pulmonologist and specialised in internal medicine before completing a doctorate in London. Although he was initially supposed to have done TB research for this purpose at the Imperial College, he had to choose another field of study in a hurry because his promotor there resigned during his first day at the college.
He ended up in immunology research and did research on mice. "I really enjoyed the clinical work and wished to return to South Africa to work with patients again. However, at that stage my former post at the (Tygerberg) lung unit was not available any longer. Prof Van Helden offered me a post in TB research. That meant I could plough back some of my newly acquired knowledge about immunology."
Challenges abound in his new post, including to ensure that sufficient donations and research grants are available to fund researchers. His group consists of 55 researchers. Prof Walzl explains: "Our situation differs from other divisions, since the greater part of our researchers' salaries has to be paid by means of external funding."
During the past few years the South African government and government institutions has made more grant funding available for research than previously. However, it remains a drop in the ocean and they still largely depend on international financing. "For instance, we depend heavily on the American National Institutes of Health, the Welcome Trust, the Gates Foundation and the European Union for our TB research."
Another challenge is that the success rate of research grant applications is a mere 2% to 10%. "Therefore, you have to think long term and ensure you have several irons in the fire simultaneously regarding applications. It is a very stressful environment and extremely competitive. Hence we run this division as a business, although we don't make money. Knowledge is our currency."
Moreover, the emphasis in research over the past few years has increasingly been shifting towards studies in which basic scientific knowledge is, for instance, converted into a medical product, drugs or a vaccine. "It is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain financing for research that does not have an application. Therefore, it often makes sense to work with other research institutions in order to be able to answer bigger questions together. TB researchers here work in several international consortiums, often including national collaborators such as the University of Cape Town.
"The biggest disadvantage (of consortiums) is obviously that you have to give something in exchange for such co-operation, whether it be authorship or samples of study participants. Nevertheless, you cannot be short-sighted in this regard – co-operation is important and in view of the limited resources it is the future. Moreover, it does not serve a purpose to develop a vaccine that works in Bellville, for instance, but has no application in Uganda, Asia or Ethiopia."
Prof Walzl and his group are currently working on a big international project to develop a cheap finger prick test that can be used as a screening test to determine how big the possibility is that someone has developed active TB.
"We are also working on a predictive test to inter alia determine the risk for the future development of active TB. We want to determine why someone who is contaminated with TB becomes sick. To this end we examine people's natural resistance with or without a vaccine and try to predict whether a vaccine is going to work."
In addition to studies on the prevention and diagnosis of TB, they are also searching for biomarkers regarding the length of time patients have to be treated. "We already know that 85% of people with TB are cured if you treat them for a period shorter than the standard treatment period of six months. But how do you identify the 15% of patients with active TB who have to be treated for six months? This forms part of a large, exciting research project which will hopefully be launched in April."
According to Prof Walzl genetic research has already changed their field of study drastically. "There is a growing movement to develop medicine for individuals. Can you use your genes or even protein to decide what treatment you need? And what are you going to do with that information? It unlocks all kinds of ethical issues and several questions which we are not able to answer yet. And remember: this knowledge on its own does not mean the end of illnesses. It can, however, bring about a radical change regarding the kind of treatment we use."
Prof Walzl says he wants to place a large focus on the training of undergraduate students this year. "Before December our first-year students were still school learners. We (the department) can fulfil a huge role to support new students on campus, as well as to help establish their attitude towards the medical profession and biomedical science as a whole.
"If new students don't feel welcome, they are going to carry it with them for a long time. And let us be honest, many of our students don't feel welcome. We have to find new, inclusive ways to make everyone feel at home and teach our students to think critically.
"It is often thought that modern science belongs to developed, rich countries such the USA and those in Europe. Science, for instance our understanding of how cells divide, belongs to everyone. It is not a Western thing – it is about the laws of nature. It is as much our science as it is that of the Americans. We have to make it our own and apply it appropriately in our circumstances.
"We want to illustrate to our students that this is YOUR science and YOUR campus and you CAN help to make a difference."
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