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07 January 2018
Photo Charl Devenish
Dr Anneke van der Spoel van Dijk is invested in contributing
to the global effort of stopping TB by 2035.
The work of Dr Anneke van der Spoel van Dijk investigates the spread of TB in the Free State population using techniques such as next generation sequencing, spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR typing. Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk, a senior medical scientist in the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of the Free State (UFS) also looks at drug resistance in her research. This work informs decisions about how best to treat patients with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).
She employs rapid molecular techniques to track one of Africa’s most serious diseases, tuberculosis (TB).
Drug resistance
Scientists assist the National Health Laboratory Service and Department of Health in trying to refine the diagnostic tools to identify these cases earlier. Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk explains: “Until recently, it took up to two years to fine-tune treatment decisions for patients with MDR-TB. Patients get a cocktail of anti-TB drugs, but it takes time to find the right combination. Re-infection and relapse (patients stopping treatment for several reasons) add to the diagnostic and treatment management challenges.
Enormous impact
“Now doctors can reduce the time needed for diagnostic certainty to about seven days, while new drugs allow reduction of treatment from more than 18 to nine months. This can have an enormous impact on the life of many patients.”
Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk’s work forms part of research in the faculty looking at resistance development in TB strains. She is currently also doing her doctoral thesis on the differences and incidence of MDR-TB among adolescents versus adults. Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk says: “It is a complicated picture, but we hope to unravel it to support better diagnostic tools and patient care.”
As part of the National Health Laboratory Service, her department is playing an important role in TB diagnostics and the training of scientists and future pathologists. “Our work is contributing to the global vision to stop TB by 2035,” Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk says.
Dr Cawood awarded prestigious British Academy Newton Advanced Fellowship
2016-08-02
“I am absolutely thrilled to be associated with such esteemed organisations as the Newton Fund and the British Academy.” This is what Dr Stephanie Cawood, from the Centre for Africa Studies (CAS) at the University of the Free State (UFS), had to say on being awarded a prestigious British Academy Newton Advanced Fellowship. It is part of the United Kingdom’s (UK) Official Development Assistance (ODA).
Grant will assist research on the meaning of museums, monuments, spaces, and discourse
She received a grant of £62,904 (R 1,177,949.35), that will enable her to conduct research that will compare how liberation struggles have been memorialised in South Africa and Uganda. The focus will be on museums, monuments, spaces, and discourse.
The idea is to analyse the relationship between memory, space, and power, said Dr Cawood. The project will run over three years, and will involve comparative fieldwork between liberation movements in South Africa and Uganda. Dr Johnathan Fisher from the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham will be Dr Cawood’s research partner. “Building a research network between the institutions involved is an important aspect of this research,” said Dr Cawood.
Fellowship will enhance international footprint and collaboration
“I believe it will contribute significantly to my intellectual engagement, career advancement, and international footprint”.
“I believe it will contribute significantly to my
intellectual engagement, career advancement,
and international footprint”
The award also has the potential to further relations at a broader level between the UFS and the University of Birmingham. It will also strengthen a collaborative relationship between the CAS and International Development Department.
The British Academy is the UK’s national body for championing the humanities and social sciences, and counts many world-leading scholars and researchers among its ranks.