âHumble but determinedâ A tribute to award-winning SA virologist Dr Graeme Jacobs
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Award-winning virologist Dr Graeme Jacobs was born without a heartbeat, but went on to carve out a glittering academic career for himself. He died last Saturday from Covid-19.
The youngest of two children born to Lawton and Mildred Jacobs, he was born via an emergency Caesarean section on April 14, 1982 but would go on to matriculate with distinction from DF Malan Hoërskool in Bellville at the age of 17 in 1999.
Proceeding to Stellenbosch University, he graduated with a BSc in medical technology in 2002, followed by his Honours degree the next year and MSc in virology in 2005. His academic prowess was such that he was awarded a scholarship to pursue a PhD at the Institute for Virology and Immunobiology at the University of Wuerzburg in Germany, where he graduated magna cum laude, receiving full marks for his thesis on HIV/Aids.
Prof Tulio de Oliveira, who identified the new variant of Covid-19 driving the country's second wave of infections, has told the dramatic story behind his discovery.
Coronavirus variant discoveries in UK and South Africa began with a bet of a bottle of wine
The discovery of important new coronavirus variants in the UK and South Africa began with a bet of a bottle of wine.
In mid-November, Tulio de Oliveira, who leads a genetics lab in South Africa, began receiving anxious phone calls from physicians in the Eastern Cape province who were seeing an explosive growth in Covid-19 patients. Hospitals were quickly becoming overrun. The increase had seemingly come out of nowhere.
“It was shocking,” said de Oliveira, a professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban.