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First #MentalHealth awareness run to Stellenbosch to bring hope

13 September 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Sonia Small (Kaleidoscope Studios)

Bringing hope to the millions of South Africans suffering from mental illness, is the message the #UFSRun4MentalHealth team wants to resonate when they take on the 1 075 km distance between Bloemfontein and Stellenbosch.

On Friday 20 September 2019, three teams of enthusiastic runners from the Faculty of Health Sciences and Organisational Development and Employee Wellness at the University of the Free State (UFS) will embark on the first UFS mental-health awareness run to Stellenbosch. Each runner will complete 9 km each day. “We will be passing on the baton of hope. There is hope, and no one is alone,” says Burneline Kaars, Head of Employee Wellness at the UFS.

The #UFSRun4MentalHealth run will end on the campus of Stellenbosch University (SU) on 25 September 2019, with the symbolic handover of the baton of hope to a representative of the SU management.

Team Blue. From the left: Jo-mari Horn, Patrick Kaars, Burneline Kaars, Riaan Bezuidenhout, George Dumisi, and Eugene Petrus.
(absent: Hendrik Blom)

#UFSRun4MentalHealth part of larger project

“This initiative is our effort to mitigate the impact of inactivity experienced by our students and staff on their productivity and mental health. The purpose is to raise awareness and motivate people to get active,” says Burneline. Through this effort, the UFS is demonstrating care for student and staff well-being.

“Well-being is not only the responsibility of the organisation or university, but the responsibility of all of us,” says Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor. “This initiative also demonstrates care – to look after one another, to take care of one another –from the organisation to our people, but also among ourselves.”

Prof Petersen points out that the #UFSRun4MentalHealth forms part of a larger UFS project called ‘Project Caring’. He is also hopeful that the team’s effort to change the perception of mental health will encourage discussion and openness in the towns they will visit on their way to Stellenbosch.

Team Red. From the left: Arina Meyer, Nico Piedt, Brenda Coetzee, Justin Coetzee, Elna de Waal, De Wet Dimo, and Tertia
de Bruin.

Putting care into action

“With this run to Stellenbosch, we are putting care into action,” says Susan van Jaarsveld, Senior Director, Human Resources.
According to the South African Depression and Anxiety Group, 16% or about 9 million of South Africa’s adult population suffer from a mental disorder. “With this increased awareness, we hope that people will share their mental-health diagnoses and that this campaign will help to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health.”

The #UFSRun4MentalHealth also links to the mission of the UFS Department of Human Resources to create an environment not only for high performance, but for optimal performance.

The sponsors of this initiative are BestMed, Standard Bank, Shell, Annique Health and Beauty, Xerox, Bidvest Car Rental, Media24, Kloppers, New Balance, Clover, Futurelife, Mylan, Pharma Dynamics, and the SA Society of Psychiatrists.

Team White. From the left: Thys Pretorius, Lynette van der Merwe, Leon Engelbrecht, Arina Engelbrecht, Teboho Rampheteng,
Belinda Putter, and Lucas Swart.

News Archive

UFS receives R13,7 Million for Research into Prehistoric Organisms

2007-03-27

Some of the guests attending the launch of the research contract are: Dr Siyabulela Ntutela (Deputy Director: Biotechnology at the Department of Science and Technology), Dr Godfrey Netswera (Manager of Thuthuka and the Support Programme at the National Research Foundation (NRF)), Dr Esta van Heerden (Platform Manager and lecturer at the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the UFS), Mr Butana Mboniswa (Chief Executive Officer of BioPAD), and Mr Vuyisele Phehani (Portfolio Manager for BioPAD).
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

The University of the Free State (UFS) has been awarded a massive R13,7 million contract to conduct research into prehistoric micro-organisms which live under extreme conditions, for example in mineshafts.

This is one of the biggest research contracts awarded to the UFS in recent years.

The biotechnology research contract was awarded to the UFS by BioPAD, a South African biotechnology company that brokers partnerships between researchers, entrepreneurs, business, government and other stakeholders to promote innovation and create sustainable biotechnology businesses.

The project is endorsed by the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation (NRF), which contributes to the bursaries of the 17 postgraduate students on the programme.

The contract involves the establishment of a Platform for Metagenomics - a technique which allows researchers to extract the DNA from microbes in their natural environment and investigate it in a laboratory.

“Through this platform we will be able to understand deepmine microbial populations
and their potential application in the search for life in outer space. It is most likely
that, if life were to be found on other planets in our solar system, it would probably
resemble that which existed millions of years ago on earth. Apart from all this, these
organisms have unique properties one can exploit in biotechnological application for
South Africa and its community,” said Dr Esta van Heerden, platform manager and
lecturer at the UFS Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology.
She is assisted by her collegues, Prof. Derek Litthauer and Dr Lizelle Piater.

“The platform aims to tap into the unique genetic material in South African mines
which will lead to the discovery of new genes and their products. These new and unique products will find application in the medical field (anti-cancer, anti-bacterial en anti-viral cures), the industrial sector (nanotechnology, commercial washing agents and the food industry), environmental sector (pollution management, demolition of harmful metals and other toxic waste),” said Dr Van Heerden.

According to Dr Van Heerden, the Metagenomics Platforms stems from the Life in
Extreme Environments (LExEN) programme which was started in 1994 by Princeton
University in the United States of America (USA) in South African mines with grants
from among others the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and
the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the USA. Other international collaborators
on the project include Geosynec Consultants Inc. (USA), Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (USA), the University of Tennessee (USA) and in South Africa the
Universities of the Witwatersrand, North West and Limpopo and companies like BHP
Billiton, MINTEK and mining companies like Harmony, Gold Fields and AngloGold
Ashanti.

The research field laboratory of the Metagenomics Platform, which was situated in
Glen Harvey, was moved to the Main Campus of the UFS in Bloemfontein. “In this
way the university has become the central hub for all research programmes. We are
also the liaison between the LExEN programme and the various mining companies
involved,” said Dr Van Heerden. The new laboratory was introduced during the
launch of the research contract.

“Our decision to commit BioPAD to this project stems from the company’s commitment to advance human capacity development to strengthen South Africa’s research infrastructure. It is also part of our aim to create and protect intellectual property,” said Mr Butana Mboniswa, Chief Executive Officer of BioPAD.

Talking on behalf of the UFS senior management, Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector
of Academic Operations, said that the university shares the excitement to be part of
the exploration of unknown forms of life, the discovery of new genes and
their products and in applying newly gained knowledge to better understand our
universe.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za
27 March 2007

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