Roberto Pereira

Roberto began his career in the biomedical sciences field by undertaking a Bachelor of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, majoring in Human Physiology. During his undergraduate degree, he developed a keen interest in infectious diseases, immunology and vaccines.

He joined the HIV Pathogenesis Research Unit (HPRU) at the University of the Witwatersrand’s medical school in 2013 for his post-graduate studies and completed his Honours, Masters and PhD degrees in Molecular Medicine. His research efforts throughout his time there were directed at understanding the interplay between HIV and the human immune system with the goal of helping the research unit develop an efficacious HIV vaccine. His PhD work ultimately entailed the expression, characterisation and immunogenicity testing of an HIV vaccine immunogen in a non-human primate model. Roberto joined the Diagnostech team as a Field Application Scientist at the end of 2021 after completing his PhD. He will be supporting the company’s Pathology portfolio and aims to use his extensive knowledge of immunology to assist Diagnostech and its customers with their IHC needs.

Roberto is a massive audiophile and cinephile, with rock music or a sci-fi movie always on play at home. His passion for bodybuilding, power-lifting and fitness in general means he spends many of his days training hard at the local gym or kicking a football around with friends.