The Wellcome Trust Africa Centre Population Epidemiology Programme & UKZN MRC Flagship project cordially invites you to a seminar presented by Dr. Portia Mutevedzi, 19 March 2014, Africa Centre headquarters, Mtubatuba

K-RITH is offering an innovative course in the biostatistical methods used in medical research. This hands-on course is taught by Harvard biostatistician, Dr. Lori Chibnik.

The Wellcome Trust Africa Centre Genomics Programme & UKZN MRC Flagship project cordially invites you to a seminar presented by Dr. Justen Manasa, 12 March 2014, Africa Centre headquarters, Mtubatuba

The Wellcome Trust Africa Centre Genomics Programme & UKZN MRC Flagship project cordially invites you to a seminar presented by Dr. Eduan Wilkinson, 19 February 2014, Africa Centre headquarters, Mtubatuba

The Wellcome Trust Africa Centre Genomics Programme & UKZN MRC Flagship project cordially invites you to a seminar presented by Prof. Susan Engelbrecht, 31 January 2014, Durban

The causes and consequences of HIV transmission and drug resistance - Computer Science PhD and/or MSc studentships available at UKZN/CSIR Meraka Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR) in collaboration with Wellcome Trust Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies. Funded by a MRC Flagship research project. Potential Supervisors: Dr. Deshen Moodley & Prof. Hugh Murrell, CAIR, UKZN

The Wellcome Trust Africa Centre Genomics Programme & UKZN MRC Flagship project cordially invites you to a seminar presented by Prof. Tulio de Oliveira, 15 January 2014, Africa Centre headquarters, Mtubatuba

The newsletter idea is that anyone with 15 minutes to spare can learn about our work and its application in everyday life. In our last issue of 2013 our newsletter we focus on our capacity building programme. We also advertise 7 PhDs and 4 MScs positions in this issue!

This is a series of four workshops, which will be presented in Brazil (2013 & 2014), South Africa (2013) and Uganda (2014) as part of a south to south capacity building programme to develop the next generation of bioinformaticians in Africa and Latin America. The objective is to train post-doctoral researchers to become trainers and post-graduate students to use bioinformatics and phylogenetic software applications needed for their research.

The causes and consequences of HIV transmission and drug resistance - Social Sciences PhD and/or MSc studentships available at HEARD/UKZN Genetics department in collaboration with Wellcome Trust Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies. Funded by a MRC Flagship research project. Potenital Supervisors: Dr Kaymarlin Govender, Ms Samantha Willan & Mr. Andrew Gibbs, HEARD, UKZN.

The causes and consequences of HIV transmission and drug resistance - Human Genetics PhD and/or MSc studentships available at UKZN Genetics department in collaboration with Wellcome Trust Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies. Funded by a MRC Flagship research project. Supervisors: Dr. Paula Sommer, Genetics Department, UKZN & Prof. Tulio de Oliveira, Africa Centre, UKZN

The causes and consequences of HIV transmission and drug resistance - HIV Drug resistance PhD studentship at Wellcome Trust Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Funded by a MRC Flagship research project. Supervisors: Prof. Tulio de Oliveira & Prof. Frank Tanser, Africa Centre, UKZN

The causes and consequences of HIV transmission and drug resistance - PhD studentship available for Genomics, Epidemiology and Bioinformatics at UKZN for the MRC Flagship research project. Supervisors: Prof. Tulio de Oliveira & Prof. Frank Tanser, Africa Centre, UKZN

In his address to MRC award and grant winners at a prestigious ceremony in Cape Town, outgoing MRC Chairperson Professor Lizo Mazwai described the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) as 'richer, more focused, more efficient and better placed to deliver a healthy nation through research.'

There have been major successes in the fight agains the disease since it was first identified in 1983. Bianca Capazorio speaks to some young South Africans at the forefront of work in the field.

Leading scientists in HIV/AIDS research discussed the diversity of the HIV epidemic, new scientific evidence and the promising interventions on the horizon to tackle it.

Ahead of World AIDS Day 2013, leading HIV/AIDS researchers in Durban have urged society to focus on insights, innovation and integrity in the journey into an HIV-free future and to put people at the centre of health services.

By Inez Rossouw, 26 Nov 2013, Bloemfontein - Dolutegravir, a drug aimed against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), might not elicit any resistance to it. This was revealed at the Southern African HIV/TB drug resistance and monitoring workshop hosted by the Southern African Treatment and Resistance Network (SATuRN) at the Medical School of the University of the Free State.

The University of the Free State (UFS) can now collect immensely valuable data on drug resistance in HIV/Aids and TB with the new DNA sequencer that was launched recently at the International workshop on HIV/AIDS and TB drug resistance at the Bloemfontein Campus.

BLOEMFONTEIN, 21 November 2013. Today, a large intentional workshop on HIV & TB drug resistance starts, which will bring some of the top international researchers, clinicians and policy makers to the University of the Free State in order to discuss strategies to manage and prevent drug resistance in Africa.

A UKZN panel discussion on 26 November 2013: 'Bringing the 'I' into HIV - New approaches in developing person-centred interventions to fight the HIV epidemic' as part of World AIDS Day 2013 activities.

Radio interview by Sisanda Jonas at SAfm weekend pmlive show 3 Nov 2013

The MRC has established a new high-profile R190 million funding opportunity for Medical Schools and Universities to undertake 'Flagship Projects' aimed at addressing South Africa's key health problems. The winning projects, led by some of South Africa's most accomplished scientists, were announced at a media briefing at the MRC in Cape Town on Wednesday evening.

Professor Salim Abdool Karim and Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, awarded a R16.5 million grant to fight HIV drug resistance and transmission in rural KwaZulu-Natal.

Professor Frank Tanser and Professor Tulio de Oliveira from UKZN's Africa Centre for health and Population studies were recently awarded a large grant to fight HIV drug resistance and transmission in rural KwaZulu-Natal. The grant, funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) Flagship Projects is part of the MRC's strategy to sustain vibrant medical research in South Africa.

'Intensive', 'Comprehensive', 'Fulfilling' and 'Exciting' were just some of the words used by students to describe the first Bioinformatics course hosted by the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for TB and HIV (K-RITH) in partnership with the US-based Broad Institute and the NIH recently.

The concept behind this newsletter is that anyone with 15 minutes to spare can learn about the work of SATuRN. In this third issue of 2013 our newsletter we focus on our digital videos activities. We have also included interesting news, blogs, reports, tweets, publications and training information produced by our network.

Deenan Pillay, Professor of Virology at UCL (University College London), is today named as the new Director of the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, one of the Wellcome Trust's major overseas programmes.

The concept behind this newsletter is that anyone with 15 minutes to spare can learn about the work of SATuRN. The newsletter is presented as a PDF document with links to complete articles at the bioafrica.net website.

by Sigaloff & Hamers, The Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine, Book Review on the HIV & TB Drug Resistance & Clinical Management Case Book by Rossouw, Lessells and de Oliveira