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From mining impact to environmental solutions

02 January 2024 | Story Gerda-Marié van Rooyen | Photo Chris Nelson

Dr Maryam Amra Jordaan, co-founded SA Rebuilders.

Only 16% of plastic gets recycled in South Africa, despite technological advancements. While the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Regulation of 2021 assigns post-consumer recycling responsibility to producers, substantial efforts are needed to develop effective waste management strategies, heighten public awareness, discover practical solutions, and hold plastic-producing companies accountable.

Prioritising environmental sustainability

Dr Maryam Amra Jordaan co-founded SA Rebuilders with her husband, Yasar Amra, in 2016. By combining 3D printing, chemistry, and plastic recycling, they tackle socio-economic issues while prioritising environmental sustainability. As the daughter of a miner from Kimberley, Dr Jordaan is committed to mitigating the negative effects that industries have on the health, environment, and social aspects of local communities. She was honoured with an Alumni Cum Laude Award from the University of the Free State (UFS) for her work in this regard.

Dr Jordaan’s academic journey at the UFS from 2001 to 2013 includes a BSc in Chemistry and Physiology, BSc Honours, MSc, and a PhD in Organic Chemistry. She dedicated five years to lecturing and research on the Qwaqwa Campus and four years at the Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT). During this time, she authored 19 pharmaceutical and environmental chemistry research papers and won numerous national and international awards. She entered the UFS with dreams of assisting in some way and ended up helping to solve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Remarkable potential for rapid prototyping and supply chain resilience through digitisation exists, but the current energy crisis hampers the full realisation of 3D printing’s potential,” Dr Jordaan explains. Added to this, is the complex endeavour of becoming a 3D engineer. “Expertise in materials science and project management is equally essential. Creativity, quick learning, and meticulous attention to detail are all characteristics necessary to excel as a 3D engineer.”

Seeking out biodegradable product alternatives

Dr Jordaan stresses the need for effective waste management, awareness, practical solutions, and accountability for individuals and plastic-producing companies. Therefore, she promotes reusable and recyclable shopping bags, among others, and instils this behaviour in her children. The Amras actively seek out biodegradable product alternatives, as they are fully aware of the environmental impact of the manufacturing industry.

They incorporated this ideology in the manufacturing process of organic butter by transforming the plastic waste from this process into a 3D filament. This product is currently undergoing SABS testing, after which it will be available to the local market.

News Archive

Nuclear Medicine on the forefront of cancer research

2017-07-10

Dr Je’nine Horn-Lodewyk’s tumour detection method
could be the cost-effective breakthrough needed to decrease
the mortality rate in breast cancer patients.
Photo: Anja Aucamp

The field of Nuclear Medicine in South Africa and the rest of the world are expanding rapidly due to the development of hybrid cameras and new radiopharmaceuticals. These developments have a huge impact on the diagnosis and therapy of cancer.

The most advanced of these cameras, Positron emission tomography combined with normal CTs (PETCT), are not yet widely available in South Africa due to the cost of the cameras and the radiopharmaceuticals. A more cost-effective alternative can be of great benefit. To achieve this, the focus should be on developing new radiopharmaceuticals that can be used with the current cost-effective gamma cameras, according to University of the Free State researcher, Dr Je’nine Horn-Lodewyk from the Department of Nuclear Medicine.

Fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG), a radiolabelled glucose analogue, is currently the radiopharmaceutical most commonly used in PET/CT imaging for mainly oncology indications. Although it is considered the gold standard for imaging in several malignancies, it does have certain disadvantages. An 18F-FDG PET/CT diagnostic imaging study can cost between R25 000 and R35 000 for a single patient in the private sector. The 18F-FDG is also more radioactive, which requires much stricter handling and shielding to avoid high radiation dosages to staff and patients.

Successful research potential innovative solution
In the search for the ideal radiopharmaceutical for tumour detection, the South African National Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) developed a local synthesis process for ethylenedicysteine-deoxyglucose (EC-DG). EC-DG is also a glucose analogue similar to FDG. They succeeded in labelling the compound with Technetium-99-metastable-pertechnetate (99mTcO4-), the most common nuclear medicine isotope used for approximately 95% of nuclear medicine procedures, creating 99mTc-EC-DG.

In partnership with Dr Horn-Lodewyk, this compound was successfully used in various animal models and clinical scenarios, resulting in approval by the Medicine Control Council to use it in a human study. Research is also planned in order to investigate diagnostic accuracy in other cancers like lymphoma. The end result of this research can produce a radiopharmaceutical that is cost effective, does not require the use of costly specialised equipment, has no significant side-effects, no special patient preparation, renders late imaging possible, and has decreased radiation risks.

Dr Horn-Lodewyk is grateful for the support of her mentor, Prof Anton Otto, as well as Dr Gert Engelbrecht, Head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Prof Jan Rijn Zeevaart from North-West University’s Preclinical Drug Development Platform and Necsa, and Judith Wagener from Necsa. This innovative research would also not have been possible without the financial assistance of Dr Glen Taylor and Eleanor van der Westhuizen in the Directorate of Research Development.

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