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THREE-SIXT-E | ALUMNI E-NEWSLETTER | ISSUE 6/SEPTEMBER 2013
Bioprospecting indigenous knowledge
Alumna left a lasting legacy UWC alumna Patricia Saptoe dedicated her life to the development of young people in Eastern Cape communities through education and sport. Saptoe was involved in education for 22 years. Besides teaching high school learners English and Afrikaans for over ten years, she also devoted much of her free time to sharing her skills in tennis and music with local youth. “She was a guitarist at heart and came from a family who were good tennis players,” her father Godfrey Saptoe explains. “As much as she enjoyed playing her guitar, she also loved teaching young people music.” In 1990, after obtaining a BA in Psychology, Linguistics and Afrikaans and a teaching diploma (sibling Ingrid Saptoe is also an educator), she began teaching at Humansdorp Secondary School before moving to Chatty Secondary School and Thembalabantu High School. Described as a “livewire teacher” by colleagues at Chatty Secondary School, Saptoe also played a leading role in the establishment of the South African Democratic Teachers Union in the Port Elizabeth area in the early 1990s. In 2003, Saptoe was transferred to a management role within the Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown Department of Education district offices, where she excelled. She developed heart problems brought on by a flu virus and tragically died in February 2012, at the age of 44. She is survived by her daughter, Carleen, a first-year student at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
Associate Professor Jeremy Klaasen is part of a team of scientists that developed a kraalbos-based organic pesticide.
For centuries, the Khoisan people used kraalbos (Galenia africana) to treat various diseases and conditions, including toothache, skin ailments, inflammation, dandruff and venereal diseases. A group of scientists at UWC, led by Associate Professor Jeremy Klaasen of the Department of Medical Biosciences, has been researching the potential pharmaceutical uses and green economy commercial applications of kraalbos for a number of years. Promising discoveries have already been made regarding its many medicinal uses. Now Prof Klaasen and his team have developed a product derived from kraalbos that can reverse the resistance of crop pathogens when applied in combination with conventional pesticides. “This is an important discovery, as pesticides tend to become vulnerable to resistance after prolonged and extensive periods of use, resulting in the spreading of pesticide-resistant superbugs,” said Prof Klaasen, who holds an MSc (Microbiology) from UWC as well as a PhD (Plant Pathology) from Pennsylvania State University. “Preventing superresistance of pathogens to pesticides (fungicides and bactericides) is always a serious challenge in agricultural pest management strategies.” Aside from being a natural pesticide, this kraalbos product, developed as part of UWC’s Indigenous Botanical Adjuvant
Technology (iBATECH) Project, reduces the dose of pesticide needed to spray crops, thereby decreasing environmental contamination by commercial pesticides. The iBATECH product, which has been patented by UWC, has undergone field testing on tomatoes, grapes, apples, pears and peaches, and is registered for use on tunnel tomatoes. UWC is involved in discussions with agrochemical companies on the possibility of licensing the pesticide, and registering the product for use in South Africa and internationally. The project was funded by the Technology Innovation Agency, an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology.
DID YOU KNOW ? Kraalbos is a small, woody, soft bush with small green leaves, which grows to about one metre. This invasive perennial is found in the Northern Cape and Namibia, and often spreads extensively on roadsides and on overgrazed land. In parts of the Karoo, kraalbos is regarded as being responsible for the condition known as waterpens toxicity in sheep. During a feeding study the plant induced fatal liver damage in experimental sheep. Sheep will feed on kraalbos if there is no other feed available.
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