When Fezile Bongekile Khumalo was born in Osizweni, Newcastle in KwaZulu Natal her family was so happy that everyone got a chance to name her. “Everyone got to name me, my birth was extra special as my parents had lost my brother who was born a year before me.”
Fezile is at the cusp of a new era in her career. And, much like when she was born, everyone around her is excited to be a part of it. She was recently named a fellow at the Africa Oxford Health Innovation Platform. This is a programme that supports innovators in various fields of health by providing mentoring and intensive training. This is a prestigious programme with entries from across the continent.
“My mother is my biggest cheerleader. I shared a social media post that the Institute of Infectious Disease & Molecular Medicine (IDM) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) posted about me winning the award,” says Fezile. “My mom put the post on her WhatsApp status and all her friends were commenting on it.”
One of the comments was from the principal of the first school she ever attended (Ndabanhle J P School) more than 30 years ago. It read: “I laid the foundations!”.
This was over 30 years ago but they want it to be known that Fezile’s road to success started with them.
Translational research
Today Dr Fezile Khumalo is building the Translational Dx Research Hub at UCT with the support of the IDM and the Mucosal Infections Group in the Department of Pathology.
“Most of the time in the science we do, you won’t hear about it unless you go look for it and read a journal article. But translational science says: ‘the work that I do needs to have impact. People in the community where I come from need to feel and see and benefit from my work’,” she explains.
“This means the discoveries we make in the lab need to one day benefit society, and my job is to put the many innovations through the commercialisation value chain.”
Fezile’s passion for translational research started in 2008.
“The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) had established this emerging research area called “the synthetic biology ERA” and I got a bursary to do my Masters there in collaboration with the University of Johannesburg. At the time I was working on microfluidic technology – which was novel in South Africa.
“I wanted to transfer diagnostics onto a device that can fit into your hand. So instead of having to send samples to a central lab where the turnaround time to getting results can take up to a week, we could reduce this to an hour. And all of this could happen at the point of care – on a small piece of technology,” she says.
For her PhD, Fezile worked on miniaturising flow cytometry – these are machines used to monitor for example CD4 count of a HIV-positive patient’s blood. Due to the resources required to run them and the expertise needed, these machines are mostly found in well equipped centralised labs.
“By focusing on what makes these instruments great, we could take those advantages and miniaturise them to fit on a technology that fits in your palm or not require the extensive resources the larger counterparts require. I wanted to see if we could miniaturise the functions of this machine so nurses could do these tests and give patients their results at the clinic.”
In 2017 she moved to Cape Town to pursue her postdoctoral research. “I wanted to learn more from my co-supervisor who had commercialised a lot of technologies.”
Difficult start
Those first few years at UCT were tough.
“Being far from your support structure can be difficult, especially when you are trying to establish yourself. At first I felt like a fish out of water,” she recalls.
And her love for translational research wasn’t enough to get her onto the path of creating groundbreaking technologies at the speed she had envisioned.
“My dream is to see a lot of the work that is being done be translated and commercialised, or at least move towards commercialisation. But a university is not the environment for that. They [academic institutions] do a lot of basic research, asking the why and how, but not application.”
“This is normal, for us to apply the science there are many questions that have to be answered so that what we bring to the world is rooted in good science.”
Things started making a turn in 2020 when Fezile applied for the UCT Innovation Builder Fund which is to help assess the commercial viability of projects. This was an important step towards setting up the Translational Dx Research Hub.
“We’re creating an environment where innovation or pre-commercialisation innovation can happen. I started working with other uct researchers to see if there’s any commercialisation potential in their biomarkers.
“Many times scientists discover something, but are unclear on what to do with it? My platform is to identify the next steps until we can develop a prototype that can be used for clinical studies,” she explains.
In 2022 Fezile joined the team working on the Genital Inflammation Test (GiFT) project. “I worked with the GiFT manufacturing partner to develop and get the GiFT device to where it is. Basically I engineer and work on the actual immunoassay that goes out into the field.”
Oxford fellow
The Africa Oxford Innovation Platform is a major boost for Fezile.
“I’ve been looking for ways to gain the skills necessary to establish the Hub. Since it’s not pure research, which I am trained in. The Hub goes beyond just the science, it’s all also the entrepreneurship that is critical to bring our discoveries to the market. My number one priority is the platform.
“We are working hard as a team to establish it and put in place processes that work. What I’m trying to do is different from what is traditionally done at the university. It’s quite new, and while my university is very supportive we don’t have the skills to bring our research to market. That’s what I’m hoping to get out of this experience.”
Fezile is excited by the prospects of realising her dreams. She gets to do what she loves every day and her loved ones could benefit. “I’m not oblivious to what’s going on in the world. So why can’t I do something with the talents that I’ve been given?
“If I can see a couple of my tests on the market helping, then I’m going to retire a very happy individual. I’m definitely going to learn a great deal from this opportunity.”
As the community of Ndabanhle Primary School and Osizweni we are proud of your achiements and you serve as a good epitome. From current Principal