Cape Town - Professor Novel Chegou of Stellenbosch University’s Department of Biomedical Sciences is this year’s winner of the Royal Society Africa Prize, an annual award by the United Kingdom’s national science academy which recognises the innovative contribution of an African research scientist.
Chegou, who is based in the Stellenbosch University Immunology Research Group (SU-IRG) of the Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, is being honoured for his work in the fields of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis (TB).
“It is a huge honour,” says Chegou, who runs one of five independent research laboratories at SU-IRG.
“We are passionate about the kind of research we are doing. All we want to do is contribute to developing tools for the control of TB, if we can, and also to train students and publish data.”
“Awards are not really at the top of your mind, but once you do receive an award like the Royal Society Africa Prize, it feels very good. It sends out a message that somebody out there sees what you are doing and that they value what you are doing.”
Chegou’s work certainly deserves to be acknowledged. He has been engaged in research on the immunology of tuberculosis since he embarked on his MSc degree at Stellenbosch University in 2006, which was converted into a PhD.
“Almost all my work is geared towards developing some kind of prototype test for TB,” he says. “Some projects are aimed at discovering biomarkers or evaluating biomarkers so they can be put into tools and used to diagnose TB or to monitor the response to TB treatment.”
Chegou’s research proposal to the Royal Society intends to take this further and plans to focus on biomarkers to diagnose TB meningitis in children. “It’s one of the most difficult types of TB to diagnose,” he says.
“To diagnose it, you really need advanced tools and expensive equipment, which is why children are mostly referred to a tertiary hospital. But, most of the time, they will never be normal again by the time the disease is diagnosed.”