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30 August 2022 | Story Edzani Nephalela | Photo Lethabo Machabaphala
From the left; Dr Marinkie Madiope, UFS South Campus Principal and founder of the UFS Women's Forum; Advocate Nthabiseng Sepanya-Mogale, Commissioner for Gender Equality: Free State province and Advocate at Oxford Chambers; Dr Molapo Qhobela, UFS Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Strategic Partnerships, and Societal Impact, Pinky Kekana, Deputy Minister in the Presidency, and Zola Thamae, Acting Head of the Free State Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation.

“Most people believe that Women's Month celebrations are primarily for women, because issues discussed during these events are related to women. However, have you considered including men in these discussions to achieve gender equality? Do men understand how women want to be treated and cared for?” Pinky Kekana, Deputy Minister in the Presidency, spoke during the Women’s Month commemoration at the University of the Free State (UFS) South Campus on 16 August 2022.

This was the first gender-inclusive event, following the collaboration between the UFS Women's Forum, South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID), and Grootvlei Correctional Services

Some of the delegates who attended this prestigious event, included Dr Marinkie Madiope, UFS South Campus Principal and founder of the UFS Women's Forum; Advocate Nthabiseng Sepanya-Mogale, Commissioner for Gender Equality: Free State province and Advocate at Oxford Chambers; Zola Thamae, Acting Head of the Free State Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation; and Commissioner Jacky Reid-Moses, Correctional Services Area Commissioner for the Free State and Northern Cape regions.

Following the welcome by Dr Molapo Qhobela, UFS Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Strategic Partnerships, and Societal Impact, Thandeka Mosholi, Assistant Director: School of Open Learning, deliberated the significance of women. She emphasised that women do more than bear children; they are also specialists in their fields and should be regarded for various managerial roles. 

“There are many opportunities for women, and men should not feel threatened when women occupy them; rather, they should support and encourage them, as they strive to be the best they can be. Generational equality should be used as a catalyst for us to drive gender equality. We need to be innovative and guarantee that boys and girls participate in things like domestic duties from a young age,” Mosholi stressed.

However, gender-based violence (GBV), sexual harassment, and murder are still significant issues, with various organisations trying to address and curb these socio-economic ills. Advocate Sepanya-Mogale said that it has become increasingly challenging to feel safe even in our own comfortable spaces. “If there are pastors and teachers out there who are taking advantage of our children, then we will continue to look over our shoulders. What happened to churches being our place of refuge and old generation teachers being faces of the community?” said Advocate Sepanya-Mogale. 

All the speakers encouraged women to take a position in the community, solidify their relationships, assimilate into the world of innovation and 4IR, and invite males into conversations that serve women's interests.

(From Left: Thandeka Mosholi, Assistant Director: School of Open Learning UFS; Dr Marinkie Madiope; Advocate Nthabiseng Sepanya-Mogale; Dr Molapo Qhobela; Pinky Kekana; Zola Thamae, and Spa Kabane, Director at the Free State Office of the Premier. Photo: Lethabo Machabaphala)

Educational session and future endeavours 

In addition to the commemoration, this event was concluded with an educational session dialogue. This session was divided into four groups, including both males and females, tapping into real-life experiences. It addressed issues of peace and security, facilitated by SAWID; rehabilitation and integration of inmates into communities, by the Grootvlei Correctional Management Unit; financial management, by Standard Bank; and GBV, enabled by the UFS Women’s Forum.

The perspectives and experiences shared by the attendees will be collated by the facilitators and handed over to the Deputy Minister in the Presidency to guide her strategy and plan.
 

News Archive

UFS study on cell development in top international science journal
2008-09-16

A study from the University of the Free State (UFS) on how the change in the packaging of DNA with cell development influenced the expression of genes, will be published in this week’s early edition of the prestigious international, peer-reviewed science journal, the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS).

The PNAS journal has an impact factor of 10, which means that studies published in the journal are, on average, referred to by ten other scientific studies in a two year period. The South African Journal of Science, by comparison, has an impact factor of 0.7.

The UFS study, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the National Research Foundation (NRF), looked at how the change in the packaging of DNA with cell development influenced the expression of genes. It is very relevant to research on stem cells, an area of medicine that studies the possible use of undifferentiated cells to replace damaged tissue.

Prof. Hugh Patterton, of the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the UFS, who led the study, said: "We are extremely proud of this study. It was conceived in South Africa, it was performed in South Africa, the data were analysed in South Africa, and it was published from South Africa."

When a gene is expressed, the information encoded in the gene is used to manufacture a specific protein. In eukaryotes, which include humans, there is approximately 1m of DNA, containing the genes, in every cell. This length of DNA has to fit into a cell nucleus with a diameter of only about 10 micrometer. In order to fit the DNA into such a small volume, eukaryotic cells wrap their DNA onto successive protein balls, termed nucleosomes. Strings of nucleosomes, resembling a bead of pearls, is folded into a helix to form a chromatin fiber. The study from the UFS investigated how the binding of a specific protein, termed a linker histone, that binds to the length of DNA between nucleosomes, influenced the formation of the chromatin fiber and also the activity of genes.

"We found that the linker histone bound to chromatin in yeast, which we use as a model eukaryote, under conditions where virtually all the genes in the organism were inactive. It was widely believed that the binding of the linker histone caused the inactivation of genes. We studied the relationship between the amount of linker histone bound in the vicinity of each gene and the expression of that gene for all the genes in yeast, using genomic techniques. We made the surprising discovery that even through the linker histone preferentially bound to genes under conditions where the genes were shut off, this inactivation of genes was not caused by the binding of the linker histone and folding of the chromatin,” said Prof. Patterton.

He said: “Instead our data strongly suggested that the observed anti-correlation was due to the movement of enzymes along the DNA molecule, involved in processing the information in genes for the eventual manufacture of proteins. This movement of enzymes displaced the linker histones from the DNA. This finding now requires a rethink on aspects of how packaging of DNA influences gene activity."

Prof. Patterton said that his research group, using the Facility for Genomics and Proteomics as well as the Bioinformatics Node at the UFS, was currently busy with follow-up studies to understand how other proteins in nucleosomes affected the activities of genes, as well as with projects to understand how chemicals found in red wine and in green tea extended lifespan. "We are certainly having a marvelous time trying to understand the fundamental mechanisms of life, and the UFS is an exciting place to be if one was interested in studying life at the level of molecules," he said.


Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
18 September 2008
 

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