Thumbi Ndung'u

Thumbi Ndung’u is a Kenyan-born HIV/AIDS researcher. He is the deputy director (Science) and a Max Planck Research Group Leader at the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) in Durban, South Africa. He is Professor of Infectious Diseases in the Division of Immunity and Infection, University College London.  He is Professor and Victor Daitz Chair in HIV/TB Research and Scientific Director of the HIV Pathogenesis Programme (HPP) at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal. He holds the South African Research Chair in Systems Biology of HIV/AIDS. He is an Adjunct Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is the Programme Director of the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE), a research and capacity building initiative funded by the African Academy of Sciences and the Wellcome Trust.

Ndung’u attended Gathugu Primary School in Kiambu, Kenya and Nyeri High School, Nyeri, Kenya. He graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and obtained a PhD in Biological Sciences in Public Health from Harvard University, United States. As a graduate student, he worked with Max Essex at Harvard. He was also a Postdoctoral Fellow in Virology at Harvard Medical School. He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS). He has been a member of the External Advisory Board of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Cape Town HVTN Immunology Laboratory (CHIL), a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel of the Poliomyelitis Research Foundation and a member of the advisory board of the Global Health and Vaccination Research Programme (GLOBVAC), The Research Council of Norway. He was co-chair of the Young and Early Career Investigators Committee (YECIC) of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise from 2008 to 2010 that worked on the Enterprise's five-year strategic plan.

Ndung’u was the first scientist to clone infectious HIV subtype C and has received numerous awards for his scientific and scholarly contributions. The awards include:

• Jun 2001 - Edgar Haber Award (Harvard University) in recognition of “outstanding, original and creative thesis work that makes a fundamental contribution to our understanding of a biological problem important to public health.”
• Feb 2007 - Vice-Chancellor’s Research Award, University of KwaZulu-Natal in recognition of “exceptional research and research related scholarly activities.”
• Jan 2012 - Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s International Early Career Scientist Award.
• Oct 2017 - South African Medical Research Council Gold Scientific Achievement Award. Gold medals are awarded to established senior scientists who have made seminal scientific contributions that have impacted on the health of people.
• Nov 2018 - Research Excellence Award at the South African Health Excellence Awards. The award ceremony celebrated excellence in healthcare by identifying leaders in medicine who have contributed to research, teaching and advancement of medicine in South Africa.

His research interests are host-pathogen interactions, particularly immune mechanisms of HIV and TB control. He has co-authored more than 200 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. He has made seminal contributions on our understanding of how virus-host interactions lead to immune-mediated mechanisms of HIV control, which has implications for immune-based prophylactic and therapeutic strategies against the virus. He has received grant funding from the South African National Research Foundation, the South African Medical Research Council, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the European Union, the African Academy of Sciences and the Wellcome Trust among others. He is leading a multidisciplinary team of researchers working in the fields of HIV and TB immunopathogenesis, vaccine development and immune-based HIV functional cure strategies. He has special interest in capacity building for biomedical research in Africa.

See also

• HIV/AIDS in Africa
• HIV/AIDS in South Africa

References

Further reading

• Ndung’u, Thumbi; McCune, Joseph M.; Deeks, Steven G. (19 December 2019). "Why and where an HIV cure is needed and how it might be achieved". Nature. 576 (7787): 397–405. Bibcode:2019Natur.576..397N. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1841-8. PMC 8052635. PMID 31853080. S2CID 209411041.
• Ndhlovu, Zaza M.; Kazer, Samuel W.; Nkosi, Thandeka; Ogunshola, Funsho; Muema, Daniel M.; Anmole, Gursev; Swann, Shayda A.; Moodley, Amber; Dong, Krista; Reddy, Tarylee; Brockman, Mark A.; Shalek, Alex K.; Ndung’u, Thumbi; Walker, Bruce D. (22 May 2019). "Augmentation of HIV-specific T cell function by immediate treatment of hyperacute HIV-1 infection". Science Translational Medicine. 11 (493): eaau0528. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aau0528. PMC 6901350. PMID 31118290.
• Ndung’u, Thumbi; Dong, Krista L.; Kwon, Douglas S.; Walker, Bruce D. (14 September 2018). "A FRESH approach: Combining basic science and social good". Science Immunology. 3 (27): eaau2798. doi:10.1126/sciimmunol.aau2798. PMC 7593829. PMID 30217812.
• Dong, Krista L; Moodley, Amber; Kwon, Douglas S; Ghebremichael, Musie S; Dong, Mary; Ismail, Nasreen; Ndhlovu, Zaza M; Mabuka, Jenniffer M; Muema, Daniel M; Pretorius, Karyn; Lin, Nina; Walker, Bruce D; Ndung'u, Thumbi (January 2018). "Detection and treatment of Fiebig stage I HIV-1 infection in young at-risk women in South Africa: a prospective cohort study". The Lancet HIV. 5 (1): e35–e44. doi:10.1016/S2352-3018(17)30146-7. PMC 6506720. PMID 28978417.
• Kiguoya, Marion W.; Mann, Jaclyn K.; Chopera, Denis; Gounder, Kamini; Lee, Guinevere Q.; Hunt, Peter W.; Martin, Jeffrey N.; Ball, T. Blake; Kimani, Joshua; Brumme, Zabrina L.; Brockman, Mark A.; Ndung'u, Thumbi (1 July 2017). "Subtype-Specific Differences in Gag-Protease-Driven Replication Capacity Are Consistent with Intersubtype Differences in HIV-1 Disease Progression". Journal of Virology. 91 (13): e00253–17, e00253–17. doi:10.1128/JVI.00253-17. PMC 5469260. PMID 28424286.
• Naidoo, Vanessa L.; Mann, Jaclyn K.; Noble, Christie; Adland, Emily; Carlson, Jonathan M.; Thomas, Jake; Brumme, Chanson J.; Thobakgale-Tshabalala, Christina F.; Brumme, Zabrina L.; Brockman, Mark A.; Goulder, Philip J. R.; Ndung'u, Thumbi (1 September 2017). "Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission Bottleneck Selects for Consensus Virus with Lower Gag-Protease-Driven Replication Capacity". Journal of Virology. 91 (17): e00518–17, e00518–17. doi:10.1128/JVI.00518-17. PMC 5553170. PMID 28637761.
• Koofhethile, Catherine K.; Ndhlovu, Zaza M.; Thobakgale-Tshabalala, Christina; Prado, Julia G.; Ismail, Nasreen; Mncube, Zenele; Mkhize, Lungile; van der Stok, Mary; Yende, Nonhlanhla; Walker, Bruce D.; Goulder, Philip J. R.; Ndung'u, Thumbi (1 August 2016). "CD8 + T Cell Breadth and Ex Vivo Virus Inhibition Capacity Distinguish between Viremic Controllers with and without Protective HLA Class I Alleles". Journal of Virology. 90 (15): 6818–6831. doi:10.1128/JVI.00276-16. PMC 4944274. PMID 27194762.
• Akilimali, Ngomu Akeem; Chang, Christina C; Muema, Daniel M; Reddy, Tarylee; Moosa, Mahomed-Yunus S; Lewin, Sharon R; French, Martyn A; Ndung’u, Thumbi (16 October 2017). "Plasma But Not Cerebrospinal Fluid Interleukin 7 and Interleukin 5 Levels Pre–Antiretroviral Therapy Commencement Predict Cryptococcosis-Associated Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 65 (9): 1551–1559. doi:10.1093/cid/cix598. PMC 5850419. PMID 29048509.
• Borrell, Brendan (June 2012). "HIV Researcher Probes Vulnerabilities in the Virus for Clues to a Vaccine". Scientific American.
• Frahm, Nicole; Rabadan, Raul; Fuchs, Jonathan; Leslie, Alasdair; Liu, Yong; Barouch, Dan; Ndung’u, Thumbi; Alter, Galit; Cardozo, Timothy; Chohan, Bhavna; Moore, Penny; Fellay, Jacques (7 September 2010). "Young and Early Career Investigators: Report from a Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise Working Group". Nature Precedings. doi:10.1038/npre.2010.4800.2.
• "African science research fund launched by AESA". BBC News. 10 September 2015.
• "Thumbi Ndung'u". Africa Health Research Institute.
• Wright, Jaclyn K.; Brumme, Zabrina L.; Carlson, Jonathan M.; Heckerman, David; Kadie, Carl M.; Brumme, Chanson J.; Wang, Bingxia; Losina, Elena; Miura, Toshiyuki; Chonco, Fundisiwe; van der Stok, Mary; Mncube, Zenele; Bishop, Karen; Goulder, Philip J. R.; Walker, Bruce D.; Brockman, Mark A.; Ndung'u, Thumbi (15 October 2010). "Gag-Protease-Mediated Replication Capacity in HIV-1 Subtype C Chronic Infection: Associations with HLA Type and Clinical Parameters". Journal of Virology. 84 (20): 10820–10831. doi:10.1128/JVI.01084-10. PMC 2950592. PMID 20702636.
• Wright, J. K.; Naidoo, V. L.; Brumme, Z. L.; Prince, J. L.; Claiborne, D. T.; Goulder, P. J. R.; Brockman, M. A.; Hunter, E.; Ndung'u, T. (15 March 2012). "Impact of HLA-B*81-Associated Mutations in HIV-1 Gag on Viral Replication Capacity". Journal of Virology. 86 (6): 3193–3199. doi:10.1128/JVI.06682-11. PMC 3302318. PMID 22238317.
• Wright, J. K.; Brumme, Z. L.; Julg, B.; van der Stok, M.; Mncube, Z.; Gao, X.; Carlson, J. M.; Goulder, P. J. R.; Walker, B. D.; Brockman, M. A.; Ndung'u, T. (15 January 2012). "Lack of Association between HLA Class II Alleles and In Vitro Replication Capacities of Recombinant Viruses Encoding HIV-1 Subtype C Gag-Protease from Chronically Infected Individuals". Journal of Virology. 86 (2): 1273–1276. doi:10.1128/JVI.06533-11. PMC 3255856. PMID 22090116.
• Kerry, Vanessa B.; Ndung'u, Thumbi; Walensky, Rochelle P.; Lee, Patrick T.; Kayanja, V. Frederick I. B.; Bangsberg, David R. (8 November 2011). "Managing the Demand for Global Health Education". PLOS Medicine. 8 (11): e1001118. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001118. PMC 3210750. PMID 22087076.
• Meyers, Tammy M.; Ndung'u, Thumbi (17 June 2010). "Case 18-2010: A 7-Year-Old Boy with Elevated HIV RNA Levels despite Antiretroviral Medications". New England Journal of Medicine. 362 (24): 2305–2312. doi:10.1056/NEJMcpc1002113. PMID 20554986.
• Ndung'u, Thumbi; Lu, Yichen; Renjifo, Boris; Touzjian, Neal; Kushner, Nicholas; Pena-Cruz, Victor; Novitsky, Vladimir A.; Lee, Tun-Hou; Essex, Max (1 December 2001). "Infectious Simian/Human Immunodeficiency Virus with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Subtype C from an African Isolate: Rhesus Macaque Model". Journal of Virology. 75 (23): 11417–11425. doi:10.1128/JVI.75.23.11417-11425.2001. PMC 114728. PMID 11689623.
• Ndung'u, Thumbi; Renjifo, Boris; Essex, Max (1 June 2001). "Construction and Analysis of an Infectious Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Subtype C Molecular Clone". Journal of Virology. 75 (11): 4964–4972. doi:10.1128/JVI.75.11.4964-4972.2001. PMC 114899. PMID 11333875.
• Ndung'u, Thumbi; Renjifo, Boris; Novitsky, Vladimir A.; McLane, Mary Fran; Gaolekwe, Sarah; Essex, Max (December 2000). "Molecular Cloning and Biological Characterization of Full-Length HIV-1 Subtype C from Botswana". Virology. 278 (2): 390–399. doi:10.1006/viro.2000.0583. PMID 11118362.