the gem editorial - Aug/Sep

welcome to this month’s edition of the gem. August has been a busy but very productive month, our team went to Brazil to present CLIMADE as the keynote talk of the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where the Director General of the WHO, the Africa CDC and multiple Health ministers gattered to plan ahead to the prevent and respond to new epidemics and pandemics, many of them being amplified by climate change. In addition, we hosted with PAHO, the Minister of Health of Brazil and FioCruz, the 28th edition of the most advanced genomics and bioinformatics training in the world, the Virus Evolution and Molecular Epidemiology (VEME) workshop, Brasilia, 4-9 August.

We also hosted the historic 19th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME19) held in Africa for the first time ever! Our involvement included having the chair of the conference, Prof Thulani Makhalanyane, hosting the “Microbes and Climate Change” event at Kirstenbosch, engaging Gen Z in critical discussions about climate and microbiomes and two workshops leading up to the symposium, focusing on Oxford Nanopore Metagenomics and Bioinformatics to advance skills in microbial ecology.

We have also recieved major recognition, with SACEMA as a finalist award for the National Research Foundation’s Social Impact Award. We also hosted many international visitors, including Prof Jeanne Marrazzo, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), whom replaced Prof. Tony Fauci on 2nd August 2024. Prof Marrazzo first international travel was to SA, where she visited CERI and gave an open seminar on her vision to the NIH/NIAID.

editorial team

Tulio de Oliveira, Maambele Khosa and Cheryl Baxter