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 Arvind Varsani,
BSc (Hons), DIS in Medicinal and
Pharmaceutical Chemistry,
Loughborough University, UK
How did you end up studying
genetics? What and who inspired
you along the way?
I absolutely loved biology and hence for
my GCE ‘A’ levels, I studied biology,
chemistry and maths. I was very keen to
study genetics since it was just becoming
the hot field, besides I was always a rebel
and wanted to do something different to
the rest of the Kenyans [Arvind grew up
and went to school in Kenya].
I felt my place was in research rather
than doing an office job. Unfortunately,
my parents thought otherwise and since
they were supporting my education I had
to reassess the situation.
My parents are very conservative and
they wanted me to become a pharmacist
or a medic. I couldn’t stand the thought
of studying medicine for five years, so I
managed to convince them that my
degree programme in medicinal and
pharmaceutical chemistry was a slight
variation of pharmacy.
Little did they know that, in actual fact,
it would get me jobs mainly in the research
sector. While in the UK I did a year internship
with Astra Pharmaceuticals (now
Astra-Zeneca) in the formulation section,
which kicked me into research mode.
I read a lot about viruses during this
time and thought they were the coolest
things. Back in Kenya, the job prospects
were limited, and I struggled to relate to
the ethics of the pharmaceutical industry
there. Therefore, in a bid to escape all
this and pursue my true passion in
researching, viruses, I applied for PhD
posts all over the world and managed to
get a spot at the University of Cape Town
to work on the human papillomavirus.
What would you say is boring/
frustrating about your field of
study?
As with any field, one tends to get bored
doing the same thing over and over again.
The most frustrating thing is the time
one has to wait to get data for some
experiments. Additionally, if there has
been an error right at the start, you
might only find out about it a couple
of months down the line!
What was the title of your PhD?
"Development of candidate vaccines for
human papillomavirus." Actually I didn’t
have much of a choice, I really wanted to
do HIV research but my current supervisors,
Ed Rybicki and Anna-Lise Williamson
offered me a PhD on plant-based vaccines.
I am really glad I took up this PhD,
I have had an absolute blast doing
research for the PhD thesis. In addition
to the plant-based vaccines, I have also
managed to incorporate a fair amount
of structural virus research into my work,
which has been absolutely fascinating.
South Africa is considered a
third-world country. Would you
say that this affects the quality
of our genetics research?
I don’t see why there should be any
prejudice to third-world science. South
Africa is well-equipped to handle a lot
of the genetic research. South African
researchers have made tremendous
contributions in the field of science.
What words of warning and
encouragement do you have for
someone who wants to study
genetics?
Empoyment opportunities in the field of
genetics are always on the increase. The
field of bioinformatics is on the rise too,
and this is an awesome field for people
with great computational skills and
genetic knowledge. Students wanting to
make a career out of genetics should
marry their other interests in science
with genetics.
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