Prof Wolfgang Preiser has a background in medicine with a specialization in Medical Virology in Germany and the UK. He holds two doctorates (Dr. med. and Dr. med. habil. > PhD equivalent).
Since 2005 he has been Head of the Division of Medical Virology at Stellenbosch University, attracted by the combination of an enormous routine diagnostic workload as part of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) Tygerberg, with the ability to employ sophisticated state-of-the-art methods (albeit to a lesser extent than in industrialized countries) in an academic setting. This enables him to address scientific questions of relevance to sub-Saharan Africa.
Prof Preiser's Research interests aim to close gaps in clinical and diagnostic virology, focusing on three areas: (i) improving and advancing laboratory diagnosis and monitoring of HIV patients whilst defining and addressing emerging issues such as antiretroviral drug resistance; (ii) the epidemiology and management of opportunistic viral infections and conditions (esp. hepatitis virus infections and virally induced malignancies) in HIV-infected and otherwise immune-compromised individuals; and (iii) the characterization of potentially emerging zoonotic viruses in their wildlife reservoirs.
He was a member of the team in Frankfurt and Hamburg, Germany, that isolated and characterized the causative coronavirus during the SARS outbreak of 2003 as one of the first three worldwide; he then served as a Member of a World Health Organization SARS mission to China. Prof Preiser's most notable contribution in the field of emerging viral infections since then has been the identification of a close relative to MERS coronavirus in a South African bat in 2013.
Strengthening virological research and diagnostic capacity in Africa through Education and Training is of paramount importance to him. He was PI for Africa’s first-ever international research training group 'HIV/AIDS and Associated Infectious Diseases in Southern Africa', providing structured PhD Training for 12 candidates in Cape Town and 12 at the partner university of Würzburg, Germany.
Preiser is Co-PI for the AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC) HIV/AIDS cancer specimen biorepository for Sub-Saharan Africa; was PI of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Collaborating Centre for HIV Laboratory Research, 'TygHIVLab'; and his laboratory has been appointed by WHO as a Prequalification Evaluating Laboratory for HIV, HBV and HCV assays.
His Division's diagnostic and research laboratory facilities are of world standard, offering all necessary support structures and resources and access to patient materials through clinical colleagues with a strong interest in research; skilled and experienced senior staff have extensive track records in research and proven ability to conduct relevant research and oversee postgraduate student projects. Ongoing projects investigate HIV latency and reservoir; HIV diversity and evolution; HBV and its role in hepatocellular carcinoma; and HPV and its role in cervical and other types of cancer.
