South African Biomedical Engineer: Bonisile

“I went to a school that didn’t have a library, didn’t have a computer lab, didn’t have labs. But that didn’t stop me from doing science. When I came to university I had never touched a computer in my life... but I did science because I loved it.“ Bonisile Luthuli is currently a PhD student at the African Health Research Institute (AHRI) previously known as K-RITH. Bonsile grew up in the rural village of Nyanyadu outside of Dundee, KZN. HIV/TB was affecting her community and family, as it has to so many in South Africa, and she wanted to be part of the solution. In university, she majored in Chemistry and Biochemistry and then completed an Honours in Biochemistry. In her masters lab with Biomedical Engineer, Dr. Frederick Balagadde, she studied drug resistance of Tuberculosis bacteria. She used microfluidic devices with hundreds of chambers the size of human cells (microfluidic chips). They place bacteria into the chambers, flow different drugs in and monitor the effect of the drugs with an automated microscope. Her advice for learners that are considering science: “Just go for it! You just need to work hard, focus on your studies and get good grades… You don’t need to be super smart as long as you work hard, you communicate well, you take constructive criticism. You will be great!”