There are many viruses and bacterias present in our surroundings that we clearly have no idea about, but there are medical doctors who study viruses and the effects that they have on humans, insects, animals, fungi, and even plants, in community, as well as oversee the diagnosis, management and even the prevention of infection.
They are Virologists and Sikhulile Moyo is one of them. Sikhulile is a Zimbabwean virologist who works as the laboratory director of the Botswana–Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP) as well as a research associate in the Department of Immunology and Infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Around November 2021, Sikhulile and his laboratory were the first ones to identify the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.
What is virologist Sikhulile Moyo’s earlier life as well as his educational qualification?
Sikhulile Moyo was born and mostly grew up in Zimbabwe and it was from there Moyo finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Zimbabwe in the year 1996. After this, Moyo pursued his master’s degree in applied microbiology at the University of Botswana in the year 2000.
In the year 2006, Moyo completed a Master of Public Health at the University of Limpopo also called the MEDUNSA campus. Moyo’s thesis was called ‘Modelling the HIV / AIDS in Botswana: the representativeness of the ANC based estimates of HIV prevalence in Botswana and implications for monitoring the epidemic’. Sikhulile finished his Ph.D. in medical virology at Stellenbosch University in the year 2016. Moyo’s doctoral advisors included Tulio de Oliveira as well as Susan Engelbrecht. Moyo’s dissertation was entitled ‘Evolutionary trends and dynamics of HIV-1C in Botswana’.
What has caused Sikhulile Moyo’s recent fame?
Moyo entered the Botswana–Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP) in the year 2003 as a lab assistant after which, Moyo became the laboratory coordinator, deputy manager, and subsequently lab manager in the year 2016. Since November 2021, Sikhulile Moyo is the laboratory director, along with an associate researcher in immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Moyo and his laboratory in November 2021 were the ones who altered the existence of the extremely contagious SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant of the Coronavirus. After this successful discovery, Moyo was listed as one of the people under Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list in 2022.
While in the lab, Moyo noticed a distinctive pattern while sequencing COVID-19 samples in mid-November, after which he shared his findings with colleagues in South Africa who had also found this irregular yet new sequence.
What is Sikhulile Moyo’s life apart from research?
Sikhulille Moyo is married and has three children – two sons and a daughter. Along with this, Moyo is a gospel singer as well as a composer. Who knew a virologist will be so good at music. However, we should not forget that the Researcher’s work will be an inspiration for the future generations and would definitely motivate interested aspirants to work in public health and genomics as that is what the present and future need since the viruses keep changing with the advancing shifts in the environment.