At the conference in the institute’s garden: The bioinformatician and omicron discoverer Tulio de Oliveira wants to strengthen genome research throughout Africa.
Bild: Nyani Quarmyne
Thanks to bioinformatician Tulio de Oliveira and his team, the world was given early warning of the contagious omicron variant. A visit to his office in South Africa – an old winery.
“Let’s go to our meeting room,” says Tulio de Oliveira. He leads us out of the old whitewashed winery into the garden. We sit down at a table with two benches in the shade of a tree overgrown with ferns. It is still summer in South Africa, the omicron wave has already flattened out and the fifth corona wave, which is now peaking in mid-May, is not yet an issue. Here, in the former winery that has been converted into offices in Stellenbosch – the area around this town is known for its wines – de Oliveira moved into his workplace just a few weeks ago. At the end of 2021 he moved to the Western Cape from Durban to lead the Center for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) at Stellenbosch University. Since the discovery of the omicron virus variant, the bioinformatician is no longer just a specialist but an international celebrity, and he plans to build a world-leading research center for fighting epidemics. The area is perfect for that.
South Africa’s biotechnology companies are based here, and the Cape region is also attractive for attracting employees. “It would certainly not be difficult to persuade top scientists from Germany to move here, where I can offer them the best facilities in the world, high-quality science and a good quality of life,” says Tulio de Oliveira, who welcomes us in a short-sleeved shirt and denim shorts.