May 20, 2003
By Tendai Dhliwayo
SHE might be small in stature, she might look ordinary and simple, but Zimbabwean-born scientist, Dr Valerie Mizrahi's sterling work in the circles of tuberculosis (TB) research has shown she is not ordinary at all.
The 44-year old scientist and professor at the University of Witwatersrand and National Health Laboratory Service, together with her former student, Dr Helena Boshoff as well as Dr Clifton Barry of the National Institute of Health (US), have managed to make a major breakthrough in discovering how the bacterium causing TB can become resistant to drugs.
TB has been described as a devastating and infectious disease claiming more lives annually than any other disease caused by a single infectious agent.
"TB can generally be treated very effectively with existing drugs, but some bacteria are resistant to drugs," says Mizrahi adding that the research discovered how and why the bacterium that causes TB could become resistant to certain antibiotics. "We were able to find out a trick the bacterium can use to become drug-resistant." She says the research might help come up with ways of slowing down the development of drug-resistant TB.
According to the article published in the science journal Cell, drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (the bacterium causing TB) have started to show up in areas where the disease was no longer considered a public health risk, propelling research into how the bacteria is able to resist drugs.
Mizrahi and her team have managed to identify a protein that may be involved in the survival of M. tuberculosis and which can help this organism develop resistance to drugs.
The visibly excited Mizrahi piles credit on her former student Boshoff, whom she says did much of the research in the US, though it was started here three years ago.
Commenting on her research, Mizrahi says "it is nice to get a paper published in a journal such as Cell as it brings prestige to individuals as well as institutions." She adds that publication in science journals is the major route for disseminating new scientific findings, which can help other scientist who will use the information.
And now the task ahead, she says, is to continue to work on providing leads for new drugs and vaccines to curb the deadly disease
Mizrahi received her secondary education in Zimbabwe before heading for the University of Cape Town where she read for a BSc majoring in chemistry and maths. She also received her PhD from the same institution. Later she left for the US where she did her postdoctoral studies at Pennsylvania State University.
Before coming back to South Africa in 1989, Mizrahi worked for a drug company specialising in HIV drug development in the US.
Currently based at the National Health Laboratory Service in Braamfontein, she is in charge of Masters, PhD and postdoctoral students, grooming them to be valuable researchers.
