Dr Felix Sizwe Dube
Dr Felix Sizwe Dube, BSc (Hons), PhD (University of Cape Town)
Lecturer, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science
Key areas of expertise:
Microbiome of respiratory and skin infections, genotype-phenotype associations
Felix Dube is a medical microbiologist with broader research interests in the microbial dysbiosis associated with infectious diseases. The current focus is on Streptococcus pneumoniae (the ‘pneumococcus’), a bacterium that is a major bacterial cause of diseases including pneumonia and meningitis worldwide. By applying high-throughput genome sequencing techniques, this work provides further insights into the pneumococcal pathobiome, especially changes in pneumococcal sero-epidemiology, pathogenesis through statistical and computational approaches to unravel genotype-phenotype associations. This work is interfaced with an in-depth characterization of the nasopharyngeal resistome in children colonized by pneumococci. A recent but rapidly expanding component of our research group is around the evolution of the microbiome at different body sites in African children and the relationship between the microbiome and child health, with a specific focus on respiratory and skin infections and on antimicrobial resistance.
Selected publications:
Manenzhe RI, Moodley C, Abdulgader SM, Robberts FJL, Zar HJ, Nicol MP and Dube FS(2019) Nasopharyngeal Carriage of Antimicrobial-Resistant Pneumococci in an Intensively Sampled South African Birth Cohort. Front. Microbiol. 10:610. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.0061.
Abdulgader SM, Robberts L, Ramjith J, Nduru PM, Dube F, Gardner-Lubbe S, Zar HJ and Nicol MP (2019) Longitudinal Population Dynamics of Staphylococcus aureus in the Nasopharynx During the First Year of Life. Front. Genet. 10:198. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.00198.
Aneesa Vanker, Polite M. Nduru, Whitney Barnett, Felix S. Dube, Peter D. Sly, Robert P. Gie, Mark P. Nicol, Heather J. Zar (2018). Indoor Air Pollution and Tobacco Smoke Exposure: Impact on Nasopharyngeal Bacterial Carriage in Mothers and Infants in an African Birth Cohort Study. ERJ Open Research. PA1857; DOI: 10.1183/1393003.2018.PA1857.
Dube, F. S., Ramjith, J., Gardner-Lubbe, S., Nduru, P., Robberts, F. J. L., Wolter, N., Zar, H, Nicol, M. P. (2018). Longitudinal characterization of nasopharyngeal colonization with Streptococcus pneumoniae in a South African birth cohort post 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine implementation. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 12497. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-30345-5.
Gary Maartens, Annemie Stewart, Rulan Griesel, Andre P. Kengne, Felix Dube, Mark Nicol, Molebogeng X. Rangaka, Marc Mendelson. Development of a clinical prediction rule to diagnose Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in the World Health Organization’s algorithm for seriously ill HIV-infected patients. Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine, [S.l.], v. 19, n. 1, p. 6 pages, july 2018. ISSN 2078-6751. PMCID: PMC6111628.
Felix Dube, Mamadou Kaba, F.J Lourens Robberts, Lemese Ah Tow, Sugnet Lubbe, Heather J. Zar, Mark P. Nicol. Respiratory microbes present in the nasopharynx of children hospitalised with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis in Cape Town, South Africa. BMC ID. 2016 Oct 16:597; DOI: 10.1186/s12879-016-1934-z. PMCID: PMC5075757.
Rudzani Muloiwa, Felix S. Dube, Mark P. Nicol, Gregory D. Hussey, Heather J. Zar: Incidence and Diagnosis of Pertussis in South African Children Hospitalized with Lower Respiratory Tract Infection. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2016 Mar 10. PMID 26967813.
F S Dube, S P Van Mens, Lourens Robberts, N Wolter, J Mafofo, P Nicol, H Zar, M P Nicol Comparison of a Multiplex Real-Time PCR and Sequetyping Assay for Pneumococcal Serotyping. PLoS One. 2015 Sep 3; 10(9): e0137349. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137349. PMCID: PMC4559314.
Dube FS, Kaba M, Whittaker E, Zar HJ, Nicol MP. Detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae from Different Types of Nasopharyngeal Swabs in Children. PLoS One.2013 Jun 26;8(6): e68097. Print 2013. PMID: 23840817; PMCID: PMC3694050.
Felix Dube and Sugnet Gardner-Lubbe: Visualisation of quadratic discriminant analysis and its application in exploration of microbial interactions. BioData Mining 2015, 8:8 doi:10.1186/s13040-015-0041-9. PMCID: PMC4369096.
Contact details:
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
Molecular and Cell Biology Building, Room 227
University Avenue, University of Cape Town
Rondebosch 7701
South Africa
Tel: +27 21 650 3861
Email: sizwe.dube@uct.ac.za
Alternate site: www.mcb.uct.ac.za/mcb/people/staff/academic/felix-dube/
Group members:
Rendani Manenzhe
Regina Abotsi
Gillian Ndhlovu
Wendy Blose
Andrea Young
Lubabalo Ndidi
Prince Mushunje
Rethabile Mokupi
Redifentse Malebo
Collaborations:
Mark Nicol (University of West Australia, Australia)
Stephen Bentley (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, United Kingdom)
Angela Brueggemann (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
Martin Antonio (Medical Research Council Unit in The Gambia at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, The Gambia)
Christopher Dupont (J. Craig Venter Institute, United States)