Programme director
Dr Sibusiso Sibisi, President and CEO of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
Your Excellencies and High Commissioners; Kenya and Ghana
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It’s a pleasure to be here this evening. Thank you for inviting me.
As you know, Africa carries a lion’s share of the burden of the world’s poverty-related diseases. Malaria, TB, and HIV and AIDS are in large part responsible for sub-Saharan Africa’s low life expectancy.
There is a need to pool resources and take deliberate steps to combat these diseases. I would like to encourage you to put your heads together and work with each other to find African solutions for African problems.
We have stepped up investment in emerging research areas in general and in our National Nanotechnology Strategy in particular. We have established two nanotechnology innovation centres at the CSIR and Mintek, our two main science councils.
The two nano innovation centres have a budget of R134 million over the current MTEF.
The department has also acquired a world-class High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy that will be located at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. This facility will push the frontiers for nanotechnology research and will be commissioned during the second half of the current year. These are in addition to a suite of programmes for knowledge generation and human-capital development in the field of nanotechnology.
The strategy, about which you will learn more during the next few days, focuses on nanotechnology in the area of health as one of its goals.
This is the Mintek nano centre’s speciality. It has made tremendous progress. It has already developed prototype point-of-care diagnostic tools for diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.
In addition, there are several flagship projects in some of the country’s nanotechnology development programmes.
In particular, there is the nanotechnology-based TB drug-delivery system, a project led by the CSIR.
The project seeks to address the challenges of the current TB treatment regimen, with the ultimate goal of reducing the drugs dose frequency and quantity. This will also reduce the cost of treatment. Through this project, existing TB drugs will be encapsulated into a biodegradable nano-polymer for slow release in the system.
Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the CSIR and the project team for the significant progress they have made on this project. They have successfully encapsulated all four first-line TB drugs in nano-polymer using a technology they have now patented. With the project now in clinical trials, prospects for success look good. The novelty of the project and its commendable progress has seen the team receiving several awards, including a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr Swai, who is the project leader, has been appointed as a committee member of the Developing Countries Coordinating Committee of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership.
These are indeed achievements worth celebrating.
Whilst TB has been used as a case study in this project, a lot of capability has been built in the area of drug-delivery systems using nanotechnology. The capability will allow for the development of drug delivery systems for a wide range of other drugs.
It’s encouraging that the CSIR is building on the acquired capability to establish a nano-medicine research platform.
Given the envisaged contribution of this platform to addressing the challenge of poverty related diseases, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) will do everything possible to ensure its success. We will work together with the CSIR to establish and realise the goals of this nano-medicine platform.
This workshop will help guide the establishment of this nano-medicine platform. The workshop will also look at how to make this a continental endeavour. The DST is ready to offer assistance through the existing bilateral and multilateral agreements we have with other African countries.
Before I conclude, ladies and gentlemen, let me ask that you pay close attention to safety.
Identification of potential risks associated with nanotechnology and the development of strategies for mitigation should be integral parts of your nanotechnology research and development.
It’s perilous to ignore this aspect, as it will ultimately determine the applicability of this technology and thus our success.
As far as safety is concerned, I’m pleased to say that South Africa has embarked on processes for the establishment of a nanotechnology risk-identification-and-mitigation research platform.
In addition we are contributing to global efforts in this area by undertaking an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) -sponsored project focusing on the health-risk assessment of gold nano-particles. This project is led by the National Institute of Occupational Health and supported by the department.
I wish you well in your discussions over the next few days. It’s my pleasure to declare the workshop officially open.
Enquiries:
Lunga Ngqengelele
Tel: 012 843 6802
Cell: 082 566 0446
E-mail: lunga.ngqengelele@gmail.com
