NEWS SPOTLIGHT



African STAR Fellowship



CLIMADE



the gem

KRISP NEWS


Mastercard Foundation, Stellenbosch University and the Institut Pasteur de Dakar unveil African STARS Fellowship Programme

Africa is home to the fastest-growing young population globally. African STARS Fellowship Programme to capacitate African scientists on epidemic and pandemic response be launched with an award of US$ 9 million (ZAR ZAR 165 million) from the Mastercard Foundation. First phase of the programme will fund 131 fellows over three years. Media invited to attend the launch of the programme at 13:00 at CERI at SU’s Tygerberg Campus on 15 January


Brief on Human Metapneumovirus (hMPV), January 2025

Short overview of the hMPV and its impact in South Africa. By Prof Tulio de Oliveira, Director of CERI & KRISP & Dr. Richard Lessells, Senior ID specialist, KRISP.


African STARS Fellowship Program

the Mastercard Foundation, Stellenbosch University and the Institute Pasteur Unveils African STARS Fellowship Programme to Empower the Next Generation of Health Leaders in Africa.


Climate Change and Epidemics 2024 Report

CLIMADE consortium are releasing the 2024 edition of the Climate Change and Epidemics report at the WHO COP29 Health Pavilion. This comprehensive report, produced by an international team of over 100 scientists and policymakers highlights the growing intersection of climate change and infectious disease outbreaks, with 2024 marking a record year for new and amplified epidemics.


Invitation to Climate Change and Epidemics Event and Report Launch, COP29 Health WHO Pavilion, 21 November 2024, 9am-10am, Baku, Azerbaijan

The Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI), Stellenbosch University, South Africa, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Brazil, Brazilian Ministry of Health and Insituto National de Saude (INS), Mozambique invite you to the ‘Climate Amplified Disease and Epidemics (CLIMADE): Characterization of and Response to epidemics in the Global South’ event at the COP28 Blue Zone.


PRESS RELEASE: Climate Change and Epidemics Report Reveals Accelerating Global Health Crisis Linked to Climate Change

21 November 2024, Baku, Azerbaijan — On the final day of COP29, an international team of over 100 scientists and policymakers released the 2024 edition of the Climate Change and Epidemics report at the WHO Pavilion. This comprehensive study highlights the growing intersection of climate change and infectious disease outbreaks, with 2024 marking a record year for new and amplified epidemics.


Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

We invite you to join our center of excellence. If you hold a PhD in Bioinformatics, Data Science, Microbiology/Virology, and have a passion for research in metagenomics and meta-transcriptomics within a One Health framework, this is your opportunity! Be part of a pioneering team and contribute to groundbreaking global science. Apply by December 1, 2024, and start your innovative journey in 2025.


PUBLICATIONS SPOTLIGHT


Science


Nature Medicine


Nature

KRISP SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS


North–south pathways, emerging variants, and high climate suitability characterize the recent spread of dengue virus serotypes 2 and 3 in the Dominican Republic.
Miguel I, Feliz E, Agramonte R, Martinez P, Vergara C, Imbert Y, De la Cruz L, de Castro N, Cedano O, De la Paz Y, Fonseca V, Santiago G, Muñoz-Jordán J, Peguero A, Paulino-Ramírez R, Grubaugh N, de Filippis A, Alcantara L, Rico J, Lourenço J, Franco L, Giovanetti M, BMC Infectious Diseases (2024), 24(1):. doi: 10.1186/s12879-024-09658-6.:.



Genomics-based timely detection of dengue virus type I genotypes I and V in Uruguay.
Morel N, Giovanetti M, Fonseca V, Burgueño A, Lima M, Castro E, Guimarães N, Iani F, Bormida V, Cortinas M, Ramas V, Coppola L, Bento A, Rosewell A, Franco L, Mendez Rico J, Lourenço J, Junior Alcantara L, Chiparelli H, Heliyon (2024), 10(22):e39246. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e39246.:.



Unraveling the Complexity of Chikungunya Virus Infection Immunological and Genetic Insights in Acute and Chronic Patients.
Fritsch H, Giovanetti M, Clemente L, da Rocha Fernandes G, Fonseca V, de Lima M, Falcão M, de Jesus N, de Cerqueira E, Venâncio da Cunha R, de Oliveira Francisco M, de Siqueira I, de Oliveira C, Xavier J, Ferreira J, Queiroz F, Smith E, Tisoncik-Go J, Van Voorhis W, Rabinowitz P, Wasserheit J, Gale M, de Filippis A, Alcantara L, Genes (2024), 15(11):1365. doi: 10.3390/genes15111365.:.



Integrated analyses of the transmission history of SARS-CoV-2 and its association with molecular evolution of the virus underlining the pandemic outbreaks in Italy, 2019-2023.
Cella E, Fonseca V, Branda F, Tosta S, Moreno K, Schuab G, Ali S, Slavov S, Scarpa F, Santos L, Kashima S, Wilkinson E, Tegally H, Mavian C, Borsetti A, Caccuri F, Salemi M, de Oliveira T, Azarian T, de Filippis A, Alcantara L, Ceccarelli G, Caruso A, Colizzi V, Marcello A, Lourenço J, Ciccozzi M, Giovanetti M, International Journal of Infectious Diseases (2024), ():107262. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107262.:.



Fatal Oropouche Virus Infections in Nonendemic Region, Brazil, 2024.
Bandeira A, Pereira F, Leal A, Santos S, Barbosa A, Souza M, de Souza D, Guimaraes N, Fonseca V, Giovanetti M, Alcantara L, Lessa A, Saavedra R, Tomé L, Iani F, Barros R, Purificação S, de Jesus J, Fonseca R, Araújo M, Emerging Infectious Diseases (2024), 30(11):. doi: 10.3201/eid3011.241132.:.



North–south pathways, emerging variants, and high climate suitability characterize the recent spread of dengue virus serotypes 2 and 3 in the Dominican Republic.
Miguel I, Feliz E, Agramonte R, Martinez P, Vergara C, Imbert Y, De la Cruz L, de Castro N, Cedano O, De la Paz Y, Fonseca V, Santiago G, Muñoz-Jordán J, Peguero A, Paulino-Ramírez R, Grubaugh N, de Filippis A, Alcantara L, Rico J, Lourenço J, Franco L, Giovanetti M, BMC Infectious Diseases (2024), 24(1):. doi: 10.1186/s12879-024-09658-6.:.



Detection of Multiple Human Viruses, including Mpox, Using a Wastewater Surveillance Approach in Brazil.
Calabria de Araujo J, Carvalho A, Leal C, Natividade M, Borin M, Guerra A, Carobin N, Sabino A, Almada M, Costa M, Saia F, Frutuoso L, Iani F, Adelino T, Fonseca V, Giovanetti M, Alcantara L, Pathogens (2024), 13(7):589. doi: 10.3390/pathogens13070589.:.



KRISP VIDEOS


COVID-19 | News sub-variant being monitored closely
By: Tulio De Oliveira and CERI and KRISP teams

KRISP BIOINFORMATICS TOOLS



Genome Detective Coronavirus Typing Tool

Genome Detective Coronavirus Typing Tool for rapid identification and characterization of novel coronavirus genomes



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.



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 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 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

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).


MORE TOOLS


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