UP-AND-COMING SCIENTISTS
JEREMY KLAASEN
A few years ago, Assoc Prof Jeremy Klaasen began to hear how, for centuries, the Khoisan people have been using an aromatic shrub known as kraalbos (or Galenia africana) to treat everything from toothache and skin ailments to inflammation, dandruff and venereal diseases. Inspired by such stories, Klaasen, based in the Department of Medical Biosciences, has been exploring these and other possible applications of the shrub. He and his wife even started a cottage industry in lotions, shampoos and soaps, all incorporating kraalbos extracts.This year, Klaasen announced the first industrial application – a biopesticidal adjuvant, ie a substance designed to improve the performance of a pesticide. Klaasen’s organic chemical adjuvant, it’s been shown, can reverse the resistance of crop pathogens when applied with conventional pesticides. On top of that, the chemical, developed as part of UWC’s Indigenous Botanical Adjuvant Technology (iBATECH) Project, reduces the dose of pesticide required to spray crops, decreasing the threat of environmental contamination. Klaasen’s company, Kraalbos Bio-Health Products CC, has an “implicit” non-exclusive licensing agreement with UWC.
Lindiwe Khotseng
In October 2013, Dr Lindiwe Khotseng, director of the ESKOM Centre for Electrocatalytic Research (ECER) at the South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry, or SAIAMC, was named as the winner of the 2013 Technology and Human Resources Programme (THRIP) award as an Outstanding Black Researcher working in advanced hi-tech. (THRIP is a flagship research and development programme of the National Research Foundation and the Department of Trade and Industry that aims to boost cooperation between higher-education institutions and industry, to allow South African industry access to innovative responses to technological needs.) Khotseng’s research fits the hitech bill to a T. Working in the competitive field of renewable energy, her interests include the development of catalysts for fuel cell applications, nanoparticle materials for energy storage, electrodes for thermal batteries, and membrane development. She also currently supervises two master’s and two doctoral students, and has graduated seven students since joining ECER in 2006.
NDIKO LUDIDI
It took Assoc Prof Ndiko Ludidi a few years to make his way back to UWC and the Depar tment of Biotechnology after finishing his PhD here in 2006. He took up positions at Wits University and Stellenbosch University, returning to UWC in 2011. Now he can continue the work he started at Wits and Stellenbosch, where he conducted research on ways to improve plant tolerance to drought and salinity stress imposed by climate change. At UWC, his research focuses on the molecular and physiological mechanisms that regulate plant responses to drought and salinity. The aim is to apply these studies to the development of new crop varieties with improved tolerance to such stresses. With collaborators in Hungary, the US and the University of KwaZuluNatal, he is exploring an array of signalling molecules – including nitric oxide, caffeic acid and phytosterols – to see how they can assist in that pursuit.
Halima Samsodien
One of the recent awards Dr Halima Samsodien collected is a coveted Thuthuka grant, awarded by the National Research Foundation. Samsodien, of the Crystal Growth and Pharmaceutical Formulation Sciences Group, will use the funds to pursue postdoctoral research in supramolecular chemistry, specifically on the pre-formulation and formulation of pharmaceuticals. Her current research looks at the physical and chemical enhancement of active pharmaceutical ingredients. The project aims to identify less complex as well as more costeffective and energy-efficient technology and/or processes for the sustainable synthesis, production and usage of medicines. Samsodien collaborates with universities in Argentina and Chile, as well as the University of Cape Town, on other projects. She has two patents pending: novel methods for both the production process of known HIV medicines and f or the final formulation of HIV medicines.
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