a magazine temper nature Narrative of the Brazilian world Tulio de Oliveira As one of the ten scientific figures of the year. Oliveira was the one who raised the alarm about the omicron variant of Covid, after it was sequenced in South Africa and Identify dozens of potentially troublesome mutations.
In fact, the omicron showed high levels of flow e return of infection.
The journal text, which appointed Oliveira as a variable tracker, also notes that the researcher and his team, Krisp (KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Platform) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa, were also responsible for identifying and notifying about Another worrying type: beta.
In other words, of the five variables of concern identified by the World Health Organization (WHO), Oliveira participated in the sequencing and discovery of two of them.
Nature claims that the Krisp platform, led by the Brazilian, has been tracking pathogens related to dengue, Zika, AIDS and tuberculosis, but that “many different samples of the same virus have not been sequenced in such a short period of time”.
Bioinformata and his team did not exclusively assist with the ordering of the variants. Due to the proximity of health professionals to the battlefront, it becomes possible to influence operations.
Oliveira’s team, at the beginning of the epidemic, for example, was able to map the outbreak of the Covid virus, which led to the development of guidelines for locating wards in hospitals, in order to prevent the spread of the virus.
Oliveira told Nature he was disappointed by the restrictions imposed by several countries –including Brazil– For travelers from South Africa after the Omicron announcement.
“Of course I expected more,” said the expert, who also said the restrictive measure “has been almost a smokescreen for the backlog of vaccines and the rich countries that have lost control of the epidemic.”
Oliveira, the only Brazilian on the nature list, was born in Brasilia and lived in several states until his family settled in Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul. He graduated in Biotechnology at UFRGS (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul) and moved to South Africa in 1997 when his mother went to work in the country.
The 2021 Nature list also highlights scientists Winnie Byanyima, Friederike Otto, Zhang Rongqiao, Timnit Gebru, John Jumper, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Guillaume Cabanac, Meaghan Kall and Janet Woodcock.
