For Tammara Koh and Thenuja Pillay, a recent summit on observational data offered new ways of thinking about what health data can tell us when clinical trials are not possible.
Solving Africa’s biggest Challenges through Creativity and Collaboration
Africa is not short of the scientific expertise needed to solve its most pressing challenges, but expertise alone is not enough. For research to translate into meaningful solutions, scientists need to work outside of the box – and that means thinking creatively, engaging with diverse stakeholders and working beyond academia.
Reading What Viruses Leave Behind
From tracing HIV evolution to understanding mpox transmission and the influence of climate on West Nile virus, researchers at VEME 2026 explored what genomic data can reveal about how viruses evolve and spread – and why interpreting those signals requires care.
Addressing pandemic-wide systematic errors in the SARS-CoV-2 phylogeny.
Hunt M, Hinrichs A, Anderson D, Karim L, Dearlove B, Knaggs J, Constantinides B, Fowler P, Rodger G, Street T, Lumley S, Webster H, Sanderson T, Ruis C, Kotzen B, de Maio N, Amenga-Etego L, Amuzu D, Avaro M, Awandare G, Ayivor-Djanie R, Barkham T, Bashton M, Batty E, Bediako Y, De Belder D, Benedetti E, Bergthaler A, Boers S, Campos J, Carr R, Chen Y, Cuba F, Dattero M, Dejnirattisai W, Dilthey A, Duedu K, Endler L, Engelmann I, Francisco N, Fuchs J, Gnimpieba E, Groc S, Gyamfi J, Heemskerk D, Houwaart T, Hsiao N, Huska M, Hölzer M, Iranzadeh A, Jarva H, Jeewandara C, Jolly B, Joseph R, Kant R, Ki K, Kurkela S, Lappalainen M, Lataretu M, Lemieux J, Liu C, Malavige G, Mashe T, Mongkolsapaya J, Montes B, Mora J, Morang’a C, Mvula B, Nagarajan N, Nelson A, Ngoi J, da Paixão J, Panning M, Poklepovich T, Quashie P, Ranasinghe D, Russo M, San J, Sanderson N, Scaria V, Screaton G, Sessions O, Sironen T, Sisay A, Smith D, Smura T, Supasa P, Suphavilai C, Swann J, Tegally H, Tegomoh B, Vapalahti O, Walker A, Wilkinson R, Williamson C, Zair X, Biere B, Dürrwald R, Mache C, Oh D, Schulze J, Wedde M, Wolff T, Fuchs S, Semmler T, Paraskevopoulou S, Kerber R, Kröger S, Haas W, Bode K, Corman V, Erren M, Finzer P, Grosser R, Haffner M, Hermann B, Kiel C, Krumbholz A, Lorentz T, Meinck K, Nitsche A, Petzold M, Schwanz T, Szabados F, Tewald F, Tiemann C, de Oliveira T, Peto T, Crook D, Corbett-Detig R, Iqbal Z, Nature Methods (2026), 23:653-662.
Tracing the spatial origins and spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron lineages in South Africa.
Dor G, Wilkinson E, Martin DP, Moir M, Tshiabuila D, Kekana D, Ntozini B, Joseph R, Iranzadeh A, Nyaga MM, Goedhals D, Maponga T, Maritz J, Laguda-Akingba O, Ramphal Y, MacIntyre C, Chabuka L, Pillay S, Giandhari J, Baxter C, Hsiao NY, Preiser W, Bhiman JN, Davies MA, Venter M, Treurnicht FK, Wolter N, Williamson C, von Gottberg A, Lessells R, Tegally H, de Oliveira T, Nature Communications (2025), 28;16(1):4937. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60081-0:.
Genomic Surveillance of Climate-Amplified Cholera Outbreak, Malawi, 2022–2023.
Chabuka L, Choga W, Mavian C, Moir M, Morgenstern C, Tegaly H, Sharma A, Wilkinson E, Naidoo Y, Inward R, Bhatt S, WilliamWint G, Khan K, Bogoch I, Kraemer M, Lourenço J, Baxter C, Tagliamonte M, Salemi M, Lessells R, Mitambo C, Chitatanga R, Bitilinyu-Bango J, Chiwaula M, Chavula Y, Bukhu M, Manda H, Chitenje M, Malolo I, Mwanyongo A, Mvula B, Nyenje M, de Oliveira T, Kagoli M, Emerging Infectious Diseases (2025), 31(6):. doi: 10.3201/eid3106.240930.:.
Importance of outbreak response research in bridging knowledge gaps on emerging infectious diseases.
Breiman R, Osoro E, Reithinger R, Wang D, Diamond M, Van Voorhis W, Wasserheit J, Rabinowitz P, Mboup S, Hemingway-Foday J, de Oliveira T, Boon A, Schieffelin J, Sempowski G, Moody M, Vasilakis N, Hanley K, Nasimiyu C, Situma S, Ngere I, Kyobe Bosa H, Nyakarahuka L, Bakamutumaho B, Woodson S, Njenga M, BMJ Global Health (2025), 10(6):e018297. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2024-018297.:.
Artificial intelligence for modelling infectious disease epidemics.
Kraemer M, Tsui J, Chang S, Lytras S, Khurana M, Vanderslott S, Bajaj S, Scheidwasser N, Curran-Sebastian J, Semenova E, Zhang M, Unwin H, Watson O, Mills C, Dasgupta A, Ferretti L, Scarpino S, Koua E, Morgan O, Tegally H, Paquet U, Moutsianas L, Fraser C, Ferguson N, Topol E, Duchêne D, Stadler T, Kingori P, Parker M, Dominici F, Shadbolt N, Suchard M, Ratmann O, Flaxman S, Holmes E, Gomez-Rodriguez M, Schölkopf B, Donnelly C, Pybus O, Cauchemez S, Bhatt S, Nature (2025), :.
Spatiotemporal disease suitability prediction for Oropouche virus and the role of vectors across the Americas.
Poongavanan J, Dunaiski M, D’or G, Kraemer M, Giovanetti M, Lim A, Brady O, Baxter C, Fonseca V, Alcantara L, de Oliveira T, Tegally H, medRxiv (2025), doi: 10.1101/2025.02.28.25323068.:.
Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 intrahost genetic evolution in vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients from the Kenyan population.
Lugano D, Mwangi K, Mware B, Kibet G, Osiany S, Kiritu E, Dobi P, Muli C, Njeru R, de Oliveira T, Njenga M, Routh A, Oyola S, medRxiv (2025), doi: 10.1101/2025.03.03.25323296.:.
COVID-19 | News sub-variant being monitored closely
By: Tulio De Oliveira and CERI and KRISP teams
Genome Detective Coronavirus Typing Tool
Genome Detective Coronavirus Typing Tool for rapid identification and characterization of novel coronavirus genomes
Genome Detective Chikungunya Typing Tool
This is the first version of the Chikungunya typing tool, which uses phylogenetic analysis to identify the species and genotype of the virus.
Genome Detective Zika Typing Tool
This is the first version of the Zika typing tool, which uses phylogenetic analysis to identify the species and genotype of the virus.
Genome Detective Yellow Fever Virus Typing Tool
This is the first version of the Yellow Fever typing tool, which uses phylogenetic analysis to identify the species and genotype of the virus.
Genome Detective Dengue Virus Typing Tool
This is a beta version of our Dengue Virus Typing tool. For the mean time, this tool should be used for evaluation only. Please send feedback to Tulio de Oliveira.
This is the first version of our Arbovirus typing tool for Chikungunya, Dengue, Yellow Fever and Zika
REGA HIV Subtyping Tool V3 - Belgium Mirror
Phylogenetic tool to identify the HIV-1 subtypes and recombinants. Query sequences are analysed for recombination using bootscanning methods. The version 3 contains new CRFs (CRF01_AE to CRF47_BF).
KRISP has been created by the coordinated effort of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and the South African Medical Research Countil (SAMRC).
Location: K-RITH Tower Building
Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN
719 Umbilo Road, Durban, South Africa.
Director: Prof. Tulio de Oliveira