Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
02 September 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa
Precious  Lesupi
“Being a humanitarian cost you absolutely nothing.” – Precious Lesupi

University of the Free State (UFS) second-year BA Journalism student, Precious Lesupi from Kanana in the North-West, is a self-proclaimed ‘lover of people.’ She chose to spend her 21st birthday with disadvantaged children afflicted by life-threatening and life-limiting conditions at Bloemfontein’s Sunflower Children’s Hospice.  

Precious explains that her self-developed and coordinated charity and donation drive dubbed ‘Sunflower’s 21st’, was born in commemoration of her father who passed away after suffering from cancer. Her donation drive is aimed at catering for the medical needs of children battling chronic and terminal illnesses, such as cancer. The campaign will run until 2 November 2019, which marks this year's International Children's Day.

Her own personal experiences with genetic illnesses and diseases have been severely trying. But she believes her different life experiences and her family orientation have helped to shape her into being the vibrant, empathetic, philanthropic, and strong-willed young woman she is today.

Her goal is to continue initiating positive, life-enriching experiences for the less fortunate – especially children. 

Precious simultaneously drove another campaign alongside Sunflower’s 21st, called the Winter Jacket Challenge, which aimed to provide the homeless with jackets and warm clothing for winter. 

The embodiment of a clear benevolent spirit that burns to create positive memories and experiences for the less fortunate.

If you would like to contribute Precious’ initiative contact: 0815372500 

News Archive

New yeast named after Bloemfontein
2011-11-21

 
Martie Smit, prof Jacobus Albertyn and Carlien Pohl.
Photo: Stefan Lotter

A second living organism was named after Bloemfontein, adding to the fact that the University of the Free State (UFS) has the largest yeast collection in the Southern Hemisphere.

In an article in the highly acclaimed scientific journal, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, three lecturers from the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, at the UFS, Dr Carlien Pohl, Prof. Martie Smit and Prof. Jacobus Albertyn, describe four new yeast species.
 
One of these species, isolated from pine needles from Bloemfontein, has been named after this city and will be known as Rhodotorula bloemfonteinensis. ‘Rhodo’ refers to the redness of these types of yeast. This makes this yeast only the second living organism to be named after Bloemfontein. The other is a mite (Pilogalumna bloemfonteinensis), which was described in 1972.
 
In short, yeast is a micro-organism that is part of the fungi family. Prof. Albertyn, “The most common of these are the bakers’ yeast, of which the bloemfonteinensis forms part.”
 
Among these four species they discovered, the Rhodotorula pini was also discovered on the Bloemfontein Campus of the UFS during December 1995.
 
“The UFS now has the largest yeast collection in the Southern Hemisphere. All over the world, science is busy researching the field of bio-diversity. This promotes the bio-diversity at the UFS,” Prof. Albertyn says.

 

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept