Meet the neuroscience star who’s using tech to decode the brain

Every family has one of them: the kid who, rather than playing with their toys, takes them apart to figure out how they function. Fourth-year University of Cape Town (UCT) medical student Simamkele Bongo was that child. So, it’s unsurprising that his “insatiable curiosity” has led him to want to understand the most mysterious mechanism of them all: the human brain.

“I’ve always been curious about the world, and science caters to that curiosity,” said Simamkele, who will be graduating from UCT in April with an honours degree in neuroscience and physiology. “Brain-related research in particular excites me. I applied for an honours degree with an open mind, just to find out about the type of research that’s being done. It’s challenging, but also exciting, and you get to be creative.”

Simamkele matriculated from Xolilizwe Senior Secondary School, a Quintile 2 school in the Eastern Cape, with an overall aggregate of 94%, earning him not only 2020 National Top Achiever status, but the university’s Vice-Chancellor’s Blue Carpet Scholarship too. This is awarded to matriculants who have achieved outstanding results in their final examinations and intend to study at UCT. The scholarship is renewable for up to three years and is contingent upon the student being listed on the Dean’s Merit List. It covers tuition and accommodation fees, and any remaining funds may be used on study expenses.

The modest student said it was “quite exciting” when he received the news that as a National Top Achiever, he’d been invited to the National Awards to meet the Minister of Basic Education, and later, that he had been awarded the scholarship from UCT.

“It took a lot of discipline to work at home with everything else going on, so it was a challenging time, but my family was very supportive.”

“My success is not truly my own,” he said. “Many people were so supportive along the way: my family, school teachers and especially my school principal at the time. They believed in me – that motivated me to focus on my studies.”

Simamkele got 98% for both mathematics and physics, 94% for life sciences and 96% for agricultural sciences. What makes his grades all the more impressive is that his matric year coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We worked remotely during lockdown, and lessons would be sent over WhatsApp,” he recalled. “So, we had to do a lot of self-studying. It took a lot of discipline to work at home with everything else going on, so it was a challenging time, but my family was very supportive.”

Campus life, compatriots and counsellors

When Simamkele entered UCT as a first-year student in 2021, the pandemic was still raging, making the shift from high school to university and from small town to big city that much harder. Thankfully, there were plenty of mentors and medical school comrades to help ease the transition.

“It was difficult being away from home and my family,” he said. “It was an adjustment, especially in first year with the pandemic also going on. But one thing I’m grateful for was making friends during that time, because going through my medical studies alone would have been daunting. We prepared for exams together and tried to enjoy university life as much as possible. It also helped to have mentors; people who believe in you. I got the opportunity to talk to researchers who gave me career and life advice. That’s been one of my biggest highlights. It’s been an amazing journey, but it’s challenging – I mean, it’s medicine, after all.”

Simamkele credits his mother, a nurse at a local clinic in Idutywa in the Eastern Cape, as one of his earliest influences for choosing to study medicine. Another guiding light was Professor Joseph Raimondo, the head of the neuroscience honours programme at UCT.

“He was such a wonderful mentor during my degree,” Simamkele said. “Prof Raimondo approached me to find out about my future career plans and offered direction on how to do both research and medicine. He’s a qualified medical doctor but runs his own neuroscience research lab, and is someone I’d like to emulate. I’d like to pursue a more research-focused career rather than one in clinical medicine.”

Taking the research route

The idea of becoming a researcher was sparked during Simamkele’s second year of medical school, when he was introduced to the Intercalated Molecular Medicine Programme, which exposes medical students to the world of research and caters for top academic achievers in the MBChB degree.

“I applied for that programme in second year and was accepted,” he explained. “Then in my third year, in addition to my coursework, I took on a course in molecular medicine, which prepares you to do research. It equips you with the fundamental knowledge of the various disciplines that exist within medical research.”

For his honours thesis, Simamkele was part of a research group that investigated protein markers to determine the severity of rheumatic heart disease. While his honours project was more focused on physiology, for his master’s next year, he’ll be swopping the laboratory for leading-edge technology, opting to do a master’s in computational neuroscience, an emerging field that makes use of computer-based research to understand the molecular functioning of the brain.

“I want to obtain a PhD in Neuroscience.”

“This involves writing code and using machine-learning programmes to understand fundamental brain functions,” Simamkele explained. “It’s a growing field and is still in its infancy. The tech is arriving now, and given the way in which artificial intelligence is advancing, it’s only going to grow. There’s a lot of work being done to understand how to optimise and improve it.”

Ever conscientious, he’s spending this year preparing for his master’s by becoming more tech fluent. After his studies, he’ll do an internship and community service. Of course, Simamkele’s curiosity seems to know no bounds.

“Afterwards, I want to obtain a PhD in Neuroscience,” he said. “I’m also interested in computational neuroscience, which is a rare skill in South Africa. I’d like to equip local students with this type of skill, as it’s going to be needed.”