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Top achieving student makes a positive difference

16 October 2020 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

Qinisani-Qwabe_web read more — Qinisani Qwabe, one of the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans, considers it important to always reach out and contribute to someone's life, no matter how small it may be.

Looking back at 2020, most people will not have fond memories. But for Qinisani Qwabe, a second-year PhD student in the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Development and Extension, 2020 turned out to be a good year.

On 10 September, he heard that he was selected as one of the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans in the education category. As if being elected as one of the prestigious group of young people is not enough, Qwabe added another feather in his cap when he was chosen as one of 21 young scientists by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), in collaboration with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI).

When offered the chance to represent South Africa at a BRICS Conference in Russia, he seized the opportunity with both hands. At this virtual event, he presented a paper on a topic he cares about a lot – ecology. His paper, using a South African case study, was titled: The role of agrobiodiversity on environmental management and its impact on human ecology.

Sustainable resources

From an early age, growing up in a very isolated community called iSihuzu on the outskirts of Richards Bay, Qwabe worked hard. He not only reaped the rewards by seeing all his tuition fees paid, but he was also offered opportunities to make a difference in society.

“I want to see a society that leads a sustainable life and values its natural resources. This is what wakes me up every morning. That is what I am working towards,” he says.

Qwabe has a registered organisation that, among others, seeks to achieve agricultural biodiversity, respect and value for local knowledge, sustainable development, as well as youth and community engagement.

The organisation has two legs – one dealing with agricultural production and the other focusing on social entrepreneurship. “As part of this social entrepreneurship initiative, we are working with schools in the north of KwaZulu-Natal, where we do outreach programmes (e.g. donating school uniforms), and run projects driven towards sustainability,” says Qwabe.

But he believes that it is his voice on indigenous foods, together with his passion for research – complemented by community development initiatives – that contributed to his selection as one of Mail & Guardian’s top 200 Young South Africans.

A greater vision

He is happy to be in the academia and believes that it will propel him towards his greater vision.

“My vision for my future is to be well-known for my contributions on matters of environmental sustainability, and equally so, for community development. Parallel to my philanthropic undertakings, I envision being a leader in one of the leading organisations on environmental sustainability, such as the World Health Organisation's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO),” says Qwabe.

Here he would like to focus his energies on food security, nutrition, and food safety; sustainable management and use of natural resources and forestry; and institutional capacity building for the sustained management of natural resources and increased agriculture production.

The next generation

Qwabe believes he is making an impact and building a solid foundation for the upcoming generations to build upon. He urges the youth of South Africa to strive to make a difference. “No matter how small it might seem,” he says.

“To borrow from the American songwriter, Michael Jackson – WE are the world. And that 'WEness' denotes that each one of us has a role to play.

News Archive

Nanotechnology breakthrough at UFS

2010-08-19

Ph.D students, Chantel Swart and Ntsoaki Leeuw

Scientists at the University of the Free State (UFS) made an important breakthrough in the use of nanotechnology in medical and biological research. The UFS team’s research has been accepted for publication by the internationally accredited Canadian Journal of Microbiology.

The UFS study dissected yeast cells exposed to over-used cooking oil by peeling microscopically thin layers off the yeast cells through the use of nanotechnology.

The yeast cells were enlarged thousands of times to study what was going on inside the cells, whilst at the same time establishing the chemical elements the cells are composed of. This was done by making microscopically small surgical incisions into the cell walls.

This groundbreaking research opens up a host of new uses for nanotechnology, as it was the first study ever in which biological cells were surgically manipulated and at the same time elemental analysis performed through nanotechnology. According to Prof. Lodewyk Kock, head of the Division Lipid Biotechnology at the UFS, the study has far reaching implications for biological and medical research.

The research was the result of collaboration between the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, the Department of Physics (under the leadership of Prof. Hendrik Swart) and the Centre for Microscopy (under the leadership of Prof.Pieter van Wyk).

Two Ph.D. students, Chantel Swart and Ntsoaki Leeuw, overseen by professors Kock and Van Wyk, managed to successfully prepare yeast that was exposed to over-used cooking oil (used for deep frying of food) for this first ever method of nanotechnological research.

According to Prof. Kock, a single yeast cell is approximately 5 micrometres long. “A micrometre is one millionth of a metre – in laymen’s terms, even less than the diameter of a single hair – and completely invisible to the human eye.”

Through the use of nanotechnology, the chemical composition of the surface of the yeast cells could be established by making a surgical incision into the surface. The cells could be peeled off in layers of approximately three (3) nanometres at a time to establish the effect of the oil on the yeast cell’s composition. A nanometre is one thousandth of a micrometre.

Each cell was enlarged by between 40 000 and 50 000 times. This was done by using the Department of Physics’ PHI700 Scanning Auger Nanoprobe linked to a Scanning Electron Microscope and Argon-etching. Under the guidance of Prof. Swart, Mss. Swart en Leeuw could dissect the surfaces of yeast cells exposed to over-used cooking oil.

The study noted wart like outgrowths - some only a few nanometres in diameter – on the cell surfaces. Research concluded that these outgrowths were caused by the oil. The exposure to the oil also drastically hampered the growth of the yeast cells. (See figure 1)

Researchers worldwide have warned about the over-usage of cooking oil for deep frying of food, as it can be linked to the cause of diseases like cancer. The over-usage of cooking oil in the preparation of food is therefore strictly regulated by laws worldwide.

The UFS-research doesn’t only show that over-used cooking oil is harmful to micro-organisms like yeast, but also suggests how nanotechnology can be used in biological and medical research on, amongst others, cancer cells.

Figure 1. Yeast cells exposed to over-used cooking oil. Wart like protuberances/ outgrowths (WP) is clearly visible on the surfaces of the elongated yeast cells. With the use of nanotechnology, it is possible to peel off the warts – some with a diameter of only a few nanometres – in layers only a few nanometres thick. At the same time, the 3D-structure of the warts as well as its chemical composition can be established.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
18 August 2010

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