Nosihle Msomi is a PhD student at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute affiliated with the University of Basel. Her research focuses on the molecular epidemiology and antigenic evolution of seasonal human coronaviruses (HCoVs), integrating genomic, serological, and phylogeographic data to better understand reinfection patterns, immune escape, and viral evolution over time.

She was awarded the prestigious Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship (ESKAS) to support her doctoral studies in Switzerland; an honour granted to outstanding international scholars to promote global scientific exchange.

Prior to her PhD, Nosihle worked as a data manager for the Wastewater Genomics Surveillance Programme at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa. In this role, she played a key part in tracking SARS-CoV-2 trends using wastewater-based epidemiology, contributing to real-time public health decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nosihle holds a Master of Science in Medicine from the University of the Witwatersrand, with a specialisation in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases. Her MSc research focused on advanced molecular diagnostics for meningitis using metagenomic sequencing, reinforcing her expertise in infectious disease surveillance and pathogen genomics. Her master’s studies were funded through the South Africa-Pittsburgh Public Health Genomics Epidemiology (SAPPHGenE) program, a competitive NIH-funded initiative focused on building capacity in genomic epidemiology across Africa.

With a solid background in clinical microbiology, pathogen genomics, and infectious disease data science, Nosihle is dedicated to strengthening genomic surveillance systems in Africa and advancing research into viral transmission and immune dynamics.