SAYAS BLOG

I constantly get asked what a typical day of a medical virology PhD student is like. It is very difficult to explain to an audience that has no background regarding viruses, but I can tell you this…virology is an exciting field to explore! Keep on reading (and watching) and things will be clearer at the end…hopefully.

My mornings usually start quite early. I am up by 6 am (including that extra 5 minutes of snoozing), dogs are fed by 6:10, I am clothed and ready to leave by 6:45 am to get to campus as soon as possible, depending on how busy the traffic is in the Jacaranda City. Every single day the traffic is bad, but ‘luckily the petrol price in South Africa is so cheap’ I say sarcastically while looking at my empty bank account.

A typical day consists of many experiments, depending on how long each one takes. Some can take me 20 minutes while others can take up to 6 hours to complete. I am constantly on my feet running from one lab to the other which helps with that extra fat roll I have gained during my PhD journey (Wow, I am stressed, and that cake looks like it can make me feel better!). My project has many parts to it and hopefully the vlog will give you a better view on what I do.

I think it is important to make you aware of what my project is all about, and I took some extra time to make it sound more human-like. I work with alphaviruses which consist of over 32 species. I specifically focus on five of them that occur in South Africa. The aim of my project is surveillance of humans, animals and mosquitoes using various methods including serology where antibodies are involved, molecular techniques where you work with genetic material of the virus, and lastly cell culture in which you try to cultivate the virus (deep breathe, I am almost done with the complicated stuff). Lastly, because the viruses I work with have very limited information concerning their geographical distribution and whether animals and humans actually get sick from the virus, I need to develop tests where I can confirm that human and animals can be infected. See, it makes sense? No? Okay, I don’t blame you!

On a relaxed day I can get home by 4 while other days I will only leave the lab at 6. I gain many frustrations during a day and a good workout session with a very strict trainer always put my mind at ease (even though I am begging for my life while lying on the gym mat). After my gym session I go home with an aching body and I usually have a set routine in the evenings – I cook, watch some Netflix, work a bit on the PhD, stress eat some more, shower, and read till I fall asleep. Every single day in my life is different…but that’s the exciting part of being a researcher. So much to explore, yet so little time!

As a first year PhD candidate, I had imagined my first year to be focused on interacting with people in the lab and other postgraduates to familiarize myself with the ‘new’ environment. Fortunately, and unfortunately for me, I have started this new PhD journey at a new university, hence my expectations. Fortunately, because I always like seeing new faces and interacting with new people hence, I decided on the change of universities. Unfortunately, the pandemic erupted and I had to navigate my way through everything and anything under very different circumstances to what I had expected.

Part of the journey in blogging for SAYAS is filming a video of a day in a life of a PhD student. Being a first time vlogger, the process has been very interesting and allowed me to learn through the process. I had every intention to film almost all of the activities that I do during the day and provide insight as to what has become routine most days. My life does have a pretty good routine, because I am in the beginning stages of the process, writing my proposal and literature review. I was lucky that I had a friend help to film the snippets and pieces of my day which summarize all I do in a day.

The proposal has been a challenging process but has taught me a lot about my research. This is mainly because my PhD topic is a continuation of the research that I did for my Master. I have therefore had to think outside the box to frame how it can be different and contribute to knowledge. This has also widened my perspective of my research to dig deeper and have a clear and more congruent understanding of my work. I now feel pressure that now I know what I am doing and I am expected to exceed my supervisors expectations, but… I will go through it, it is a doctorate degree after all.

Following the proposal and review writing will be the ordering of chemicals and then the lab work begins. I am almost done with my proposal as I had started it last year, and I am now completing the final touches.

As I mentioned before, I am also navigating living in a new place. I am now living in Pietermarizburg, a small town in KwaZulu-Natal, just 77.9km from Durban. I had very low expectations for the place it is very beautiful. It is a quiet town and good for studying and taking on extra activities outside academia. I am looking forward to exploring the area more in times when I am not caught up being a chemist in the lab. For now, I enjoy the little walks that I take midday and in the afternoon to refresh my mind and just to bask and marvel at the beauty of nature.

A day in any researcher’s life is different, the next video will show a day in my life in a different dimension, just to show how diverse the life of a researcher may be. As the year goes by, I will show more practical aspects of my PhD. Part of being a postgraduate is to be a tutor for undergraduate students or even a laboratory instructor. But that has not yet started as we are in the first few weeks of the postgraduate academic calendar and most undergraduate students have not registered yet.

The research life can be interesting and fulfilling with the right mindset. Most importantly it helps you to grow, not just academically, but as a holistic human being. That is what I always look forward to – growth.