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Prestigious UK grant equips UFS academic to improve human health

21 June 2021 Photo Supplied

Dr Carmien Tolmie – Lecturer in the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry at the University of the Free State (UFS) – is one of 30 postdoctoral research assistants in the United Kingdom and Africa who have benefited from the £3,7 M Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) START grant over the past three years. The grant was made available by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in support of the Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology (START) programme. The STFC is based in the United Kingdom.

The grant seeks to build partnerships between world-leading scientists in Africa and the UK who are working on research using synchrotron science. Forming part of this collaboration is the UK’s national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source (Diamond). The synchrotron, one of about 70 in the world, can be explained as a large machine, almost the size of a football field, which accelerates electrons to nearly the speed of light. According to Diamond, these fast-moving electrons produce very bright light, called synchrotron light. Scientists can use this light to study minute matter such as atoms and molecules.

Celebrating a new generation of scientists

On 7 June 2021, GCRF START celebrated its successes of the past years via a virtual event, including the new generation of scientists they trained. Diamond Light Source (Diamond) hosted the event.

In a statement issued by Diamond Light Source, Dr Tolmie was said to be one of the rising stars in the newly emerging Structural Biology network in South Africa. The statement reads that Dr Tolmie has made great strides with biocatalysis, investigating enzymes as drug targets for fungal infectious diseases that claim many lives, especially among immunocompromised patients.

Dr Tolmie claims that the workings of the natural world have always interested her, especially how it can be used to sustainably improve human health and agriculture. Observing some of the health challenges in Africa motivated her to take the opportunity to work with Prof Dirk Opperman, Associate Professor in the UFS Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry. Prof Opperman is a GCRF START co-investigator in the UFS Biocatalysis and Structural Biology research group, working on various bacterial and fungal enzymes.

Focusing on structural biology, Dr Tolmie is also working on drug discovery projects to find a sustainable solution through novel antifungal drugs.

To conduct the research that can improve the health of so many people suffering from infectious fungal diseases that can be serious, especially for immunocompromised patients living with HIV/Aids, recipients of organ transplants, patients undergoing chemotherapy and many more, Dr Tolmie will be using the drug discovery method of X-ray crystallographic fragment screening at Diamond Light Source (Diamond). “I was introduced to the concept and power of fragment screening techniques during GCRF START meetings,” says Dr Tolmie.

A research visit to Diamond Light Source in the UK in 2019, where she learned more about the experimental workflow of XChem and the i04-1 beamline, also inspired her to embark on XChem projects for antifungal drug discovery.

Exposed to cutting-edge scientific techniques

She attributes her recent appointment as lecturer to the mentoring and training she received through the GCRF START grant, which also funded a secondment to Diamond and the University of Oxford, exposing her to cutting-edge scientific techniques such as XChem fragment screening.

Prof Chris Nicklin, Science Group Leader and Principal Investigator in the GCRF START grant programme, says by providing the new generation of synchrotron users with access to world-class equipment and investing in their skills and capacity, research in the UK and Africa has been enriched and deepened.

“Being involved in the START grant has made a very concrete contribution to my career as a young scientist. GCRF START has also exposed me to many esteemed international scientists and facilities,” says Dr Tolmie.

Specifically alluding to the research that Dr Tolmie is working on, Dr Gwyndaf Evans, START Life Sciences Principal Investigator and principal beamline scientist on Diamond’s VMXm beamline, says: “It has been rewarding to see the relatively modest investment of time and money have such a major impact on the sustainability of research expertise, on the development of careers in Africa, on access to large-scale facilities around the world, and on the nurturing of collaborations and networks in South Africa.”

He continues: “In structural biology, there have been valuable exchanges and collaborations, especially XChem laying the foundations for drug discovery work. START is the beginning of embedding the structural research culture in South Africa and other groups around the world. We look forward to what the future holds.”

Dr Tolmie, who completed her BSc degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Stellenbosch University, completed her postgraduate studies (BSc Honours degree, MSc, and PhD) at the UFS.

News Archive

Researcher part of project aimed at producing third-generation biofuels from microalgae in Germany

2016-05-09

Some of the researchers and technicians among the tubes of the Novagreen bioreactor (Prof Grobbelaar on left)

A researcher from the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Johan Grobbelaar, was invited to join a group of scientists recently at the Institute for Bio- and Geo-Sciences of the Research Centre Jülich, in Germany, where microalgae are used for lipid (oil) production, and then converted to kerosene for the aviation industry.

The project is probably the first of its kind to address bio-fuel production from microalgae on such a large scale.

“The potential of algae as a fuel source is undisputed, because it was these photoautotrophic micro-organisms that were fixing sunlight energy into lipids for millions of years, generating the petroleum reserves that modern human civilisation uses today. However, these reserves are finite, so the challenge is marrying biology with technology to produce economically-competitive fuels without harming the environment and compromising our food security. The fundamental ability that microalgae have to produce energy-rich biomass from CO2, nutrients, and sunlight through photosynthesis for biofuels, is commonly referred to as the Third-Generation Biofuels (3G),” said Prof Grobbelaar.

The key compounds used for bio-diesel and kerosene production are the lipids and, more particularly, the triacylglyserols commonly referred to as TAGs. These lipids, once extracted, need to be trans-esterified for biodiesel, while a further “cracking” step is required to produce kerosene. Microalgae can store energy as lipids and/or carbohydrates. However, for biofuels, microalgae with high TAG contents are required. A number of such algae have been isolated, and lipid contents of up to 60% have been achieved.

According to Prof Grobbelaar, the challenge is large-scale, high-volume production, since it is easy to manipulate growth conditions in the laboratory for experimental purposes.

The AUFWIND project (AUFWIND, a German term for up-current, or new impetus) in Germany consists of three different commercially-available photobioreactor types, which are being compared for lipid production.

Manipulated Chlorella with high lipid contents (yellow) in the Novagreen bioreactor

The photobioreactors each occupies 500 m2 of land surface area, are situated next to one another, and can be monitored continuously. The three systems are from Novagreen, IGV, and Phytolutions. The Novagreen photobioreactor is housed in a glass house, and consist of interconnected vertical plastic tubes roughly 150 mm in diameter. The Phytolutions system is outdoors, and consists of curtains of vertical plastic tubes with a diameter of about 90 mm. The most ambitious photobioreactor is from IGV, and consists of horizontally-layered nets housed in a plastic growth hall, where the algae are sprayed over the nets, and allowed to grow while dripping from one net to the next.

Prof Grobbelaar’s main task was to manipulate growth conditions in such a way that the microalgae converted their stored energy into lipids, and to establish protocols to run the various photobioreactors. This was accomplished in just over two months of intensive experimentation, and included modifications to the designs of the photobioreactors, the microalgal strain selection, and the replacement of the nutrient broth with a so-called balanced one.

Prof Grobbelaar has no illusions regarding the economic feasibility of the project. However, with continued research, optimisation, and utilisation of waste resources, it is highly likely that the first long-haul flights using microalgal-derived kerosene will be possible in the not-too-distant future.

Prof Grobbelaar from the Department of Plant Sciences, although partly retired, still serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He is also involved with the examining of PhDs, many of them from abroad. In addition, he assisted the Technology Innovation Agency of South Africa in the formulation of an algae-biotechnology and training centre. “The chances are good that such a centre will be established in Upington, in the Northern Cape,” Prof Grobbelaar said.

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