Lecturer in UKZN’s School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, Dr Sibusiso Senzani supervised three Master of Medical Science in Medical Microbiology students, Ms Khumbuzile Canham, Ms Dieketseng Maleke and Ms Pumelela Hallom, who graduated on 8 May.
‘I am so excited to celebrate my achievements after years of hard work, struggle and triumph, tears, and distress. My family is my greatest inspiration. We live by the motto “learn today and have a bright future”,’ said Canham.
Her study on Characterising the Function of the Rv3218 gene in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis found that close to half of the Mycobacterium bovis bacillus (Mtb) genome consists of genes with unknown functions. Among these is the Rv3218 gene identified by Chiliza et al. (2019), which is hypothesised to have a Diacylglycerol kinase activity.
Canham found that the Rv3218 gene has no impact on the growth of Mtb and its susceptibility to the antimicrobial drugs that were used in her study. On the osmolarity assay, there was no observable difference between the growth of the wild type and the knockdown strain in all the concentrations of osmolarity. ‘Based on these findings, we concluded that this gene does not function as a diacylglycerol kinase. We recommend more advanced experimental studies to confirm this hypothesis as we were unable to do them due to the short time frame for this study,’ she said.
‘The delays caused by the COVID-19 lockdown led to the loss of my funding due to slow progress as we were not allowed on campus including the labs. I survived my final year by doing “piece jobs” including facilitating the first-year MBChB Problem Based Learning Programme, and demonstrating practicals for Medical Micro honours students.’
Canham is from Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape. She enjoys watching movies and reading novels.
‘Mixed emotions is the best way to describe how I am feeling. I am excited and overwhelmed at the same time! What a time to be alive,’ said Maleke.
Her study that explored the degree of survival of Mtb in the host environment found that it is largely dependent on the bacterium’s ability to retain genomic stability.
Hallom lost her mom during her master’s journey, but was nevertheless proud to complete the degree. ‘I obtained my honours degree in 2015 and only got my first internship in 2017. I was fortunate to get another one in 2018. However, I felt like I needed to upgrade my knowledge to advance my career and be exposed to the latest trends in my field.’
Her study aimed to identify the biological function of the Mtb protein, Rv1268c, classified as a hypothetical membrane protein of the cell envelope. Its associated proteins are Rv1267c and RV1269c, which are regulatory protein and a conserved putatively exported protein, respectively. The Rv1268c protein is hypothesised to be an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter.
The statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference in drug susceptibility between the wild type, knock down, and the knock down with aTc strains. The growth of neither the wild type nor the knock down strains was completely inhibited by either of the drugs tested.
Senzani joined UKZN in October 2018 where his research focuses on understanding the impact of Zinc binding proteins on Mtb pathogenesis and survival in the host. He also conducts research that seeks to understand the genetic characteristics involved in the evolution of hypermucovuscous Klebsiella pneumoniae, a pathogen that is highly under characterised.
Words: Lunga Memela
Photographs: Abhi Indrarajan
