During his studies, prof Alan Christoffels knew it was important to prioritise what he is passionate about. He speaks to Callan Riddles about how pursuing what he loves has led to making significant contributions to health research, including helping to decode the coronavirus.
Prof Alan Christoffels of the University of the Western Cape has achieved significant success in the medical research field. PHOTO: Facebook/Alan Christoffels
The DNA molecule looks like a ladder-like object with rungs made of beads reminiscent of Jelly Tots. The ladder twists, as if dancing, to form the strand.
A collection of these DNA molecules, known as genomes, are what carry the unique genetics of organisms like humans. This is the niche in which prof Alan Christoffels of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) has found himself over the course of his career.
Holding positions such as chair of the Bioinformatics & Health Research Department of the National Research Foundation; director of the South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI) at UWC; and director of the Medical Research Council Bioinformatics and Computational Biology unit, it is fair to say that Christoffels has accomplished a lot in his career.
His research has enabled him to travel the world, study the genetics of various exotic creatures, and more recently, has helped decode the genetic information of the coronavirus in order to help better understand how it spreads.
Decoding Covid-19
When not mentoring his students at UWC, Christoffels carries out genetic research projects with his SANBI team. Recently, they were successful in sequencing a genome for the coronavirus.
“A group in Johannesburg was extracting the virus from Covid-19 patients, and one of the tasks was essentially to decode this virus,” says Christoffels.
Christoffels says this was a smaller project for his team. “[It was] twenty-nine thousand characters. In our projects that we’ve done before this, we’ve worked with three billion characters,” he says.
Prof Christoffels further explains what bioinformatics is and how it is used to help understand the spread of Covid-19. VIDEO: Youtube/ Newzroom Afrika
Finding his niche
Like most great achievers, Christoffels’ career began with a simple enough decision: What should he study at university?
“I was really keen to do medicine, like too many people. I didn’t qualify for that, but I stayed in the bio space and did medical research,” says Christoffels.
Christoffels obtained a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree and BSc Honours degree from the University of Cape Town.
He then furthered his education at Stellenbosch University, where he obtained a master’s degree in medical sciences, majoring in genetics, in 1997.
After completing his master’s degree, something felt different. He noticed that the research field was not fulfilling him as much as he had hoped. He also developed a keen interest in computer science during his studies, which he wanted to pursue.
“I was contemplating whether or not I should leave the research space and maybe focus on something IT-related,” says Christoffels. “I was always the person who was playing around with the machines and looking off to the data.”
Christoffels started looking into avenues that would nurture his interest in computer science. This included considering a job with an IT company. Meanwhile, a new department was forming at UWC that seemed to be designed just for him.
“This [bioinformatics] department started at UWC, which was essentially going to be a mix of biology and computer science,” says Christoffels. “I decided to leap into that [and] managed to keep my footing in both worlds. I haven’t looked back.”
The niche blend of Christoffels’ passions was labelled bioinformatics, and this was the focus of his PhD, which he obtained at UWC.
Singaporean seas, and the sleep nobody wants
As Christoffels was completing his studies, his supervisor wanted him to expand on the research he was doing for his PhD, but Christoffels wanted something new.
“When I was wrapping up my PhD, the thought of continuing with this project for the rest of my life was just too scary,” says Christoffels. He was looking for an opportunity to use what he had learned, but apply it to something completely different.
Christoffels believes that God opened an opportunity for him for a fellowship in Singapore, which was exactly what he was looking for.
“There was a position open for a postdoctoral fellow in Singapore, who had a background in biology as well as computer science,” says Christoffels.
He spent three years as a fellow at a marine research institute there, researching the genetics of fish. “I knew nothing about fish genetics, but I knew how to handle data,” he says.
After his fellowship, Christoffels found another opportunity at a neighbouring institute in Singapore. “The plan was to go for three years. Three years became six,” he says.
At the institute, he was able to establish his own laboratory and lead a research group. His group studied a variety of subjects, including plants, insects, fungi and animals.
Once he returned to South Africa, in 2007, Christoffels contributed to a number of other research projects.
One significant project was his work with the World Health Organisation (WHO) which he worked on until 2014.
Christoffels says the WHO wanted to build skills on the continent and wanted to research disease.
“You had this international team of about nine teams across nine countries. They were working [on] trying to understand the genetics of the Tsetse fly,” he says.
The Tsetse fly, the focus of one of Christoffels’ research projects, is able to insert a deadly parasite into humans. PHOTO: Instagram/ studio.lindalu
According to Christoffels, the Tsetse fly (which is not problematic in South Africa) transmits a parasite which, if inserted into humans, causes sleeping sickness. The affected person will fall into a deep coma and eventually die.
A significant part of genetic research is to understand how the information affects humans, says Christoffels.
In the case of the Tsetse fly, if you understand how it transmits the parasite, you are able to then protect humans and improve the quality of human life.
Christoffels studied the Tsetse fly in collaboration with the World Health Organisation. They studied Tsetse fly eggs as part of their research. PHOTO: Alan Christoffels
Where to find him now
Currently, Christoffels is a professor at UWC’s natural science faculty. He says being a professor differs from his research projects.
“You have to somehow find creative ways of shaping a PhD student’s project within your research program,” he says. “You’ve got an area of student growth that you have to accommodate.”
However, Christoffels still finds time for his research too. After completing the sequencing of the coronavirus genome, his team also sequenced tuberculosis DNA.
Christoffels and his team at SANBI have recently conducted a research project on tuberculosis. PHOTO: Alan Christoffels
Another big project for Christoffels is the Public Health Alliance for Genomic Epidemiology (PHA4GE) project, for which SANBI recently received $840 000 (roughly R14 million) from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Christoffels says the aim of the project is to better align the needs of public health with the bioinformatics space, particularly with regards to pandemics.
Christoffels is not slowing down any time soon and will continue to pursue projects he is passionate about.
