Wanted to build our capacity in genome sequencing
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Bangladesh’s renowned microbiologist Senjuti Saha has recently received the prestigious ‘Rising Star Award’ from the Sabin Vaccine Institute in the United States. He was awarded for his contribution to typhoid vaccination program, genome sequencing and public health research. He will receive the award at a ceremony in Washington DC on Tuesday. Senjuti Saha is the Deputy Executive Director of Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF), a non-profit organization. Prothom Alo’s senior reporter Mustafa Yusuf talked to him about Bangladesh’s vaccination system, genome research, antibiotic resistance, pandemic preparedness and the possibility of vaccine production in the country.
What is the ‘Rising Star Award’, who gets this recognition?
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Senjuti Saha: The Sabin Vaccine Institute has for many years given a ‘Gold Medal Award’, which is more like a Lifetime Achievement Award. Many great scientists have received this honor. But from 2020 they are giving another award, that is ‘Rising Star Award’. Scientists under the age of 40 are nominated for this award.
I was in a meeting in Sydney, Australia. Suddenly the CEO of the Sabin Vaccine Institute got a call. He congratulated me and said that the board has finalized my name for the award without any hesitation. Sabin primarily recognizes vaccines and people working on vaccination. Some have worked in research, some may have worked to bring vaccines to people—the awards are given for contributions to the entire field.
বিজ্ঞাপন
What work have you been given this recognition for?
Typhoid Conjugate Vaccination to nearly 50 million children. We have been able to vaccinate about four and a half crore children within a month. The biggest role here is our EPI (Enhanced Program of Immunization) system. Health workers, field workers, school teachers—many worked day and night. There were also various development partners including UNICEF. My work was at an earlier stage. If a vaccine is to be brought into the country, evidence is needed as to why it is needed, what are the risks, what is the rationale for funding. Our job was to collect and analyze that data.
How did your work with genome sequencing begin?
Senjuti Saha: Although CHRF has been researching typhoid outbreaks for a long time, we started working on typhoid genomics in 2016. Then I saw some typhoid cases resistant to azithromycin. It was very worrying. Because, this antibiotic is widely used in general. No such resistance has been reported anywhere in the world before.
We find certain mutations by sequencing the genome. We then introduced the mutation into another laboratory bacterium and tested it. Bangladesh didn’t have that capability at the time, so the work was done in colleagues’ labs in California. We were able to demonstrate that the mutation was causing azithromycin resistance. The results were later verified in Bangladesh and the world’s first azithromycin resistant genome paper was published from Bangladesh.
Why is genome sequencing so important?
Senjuti Saha: How a bacterium or a virus behaves, what antibiotics work, how it mutates—all the answers lie in its DNA. Just as a person’s hair color, height or physical characteristics are determined by DNA, so the characteristics of a microbe are determined by its DNA.
When we do genome sequencing, we can understand which genes are creating antibiotic resistance, which changes are making bacteria more infectious, or which parts can be targeted to make vaccines.
Is it necessary to develop a genome-based disease surveillance system in Bangladesh?
Senjuti Saha: Of course. Genomic surveillance is crucial for combating future epidemics. We think the next pandemic may again come from a respiratory virus. The world realized it was Sars-Cov-2 only because of rapid genome sequencing during Covid.
Even in Bangladesh, if samples can be collected and sequenced regularly from hospitals and communities, then we can understand in advance which virus is spreading, which one is increasing in prevalence, and how much risk can be created.
A strong network is required for this first. Microbiology labs, physicians, reporting systems—everything has to be connected. We need a system like the one in the UK where a typhoid virus is detected in a lab and immediately sent to some central genomics lab for sequencing.
We conducted one of the genome sequencing studies of Salmonella typhi, the bacterium that causes typhoid, in Bangladesh. Through this research, we have been able to show policymakers how bacteria are becoming antibiotic-resistant, what mutations are occurring, and what risks may arise in the future.
Still many typhoid patients in Bangladesh get better with oral antibiotics. But if the time comes, when these antibiotics no longer work, then everyone has to be hospitalized and injected. That would create a dire situation. With genome sequencing we are already understanding that risk. To be honest, no one believed that we could do this sitting in Bangladesh. Many of the foreign labs or colleagues said, send the sample, we will do it at low cost. But we decided not to send out samples. I will sit in the country. The cost will be more, the hardship will be more, but we will build our capacity.
Today this recognition is actually not only mine, it belongs to Bangladesh. This is our organization. Because, once nobody believed us, but now Bangladesh has shown the world – we can do it too.
Thank you for your time.
Senjuti Saha: Thank you too.
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