Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
18 June 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo Suplied
SADoCoL
Betsie Human and Elandré Williams, analysts at the South African Doping Control Laboratory (SADoCoL) at the University of the Free State (UFS), will be involved in sample preparation, analysis and data processing at the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, France.

Two staff members from the South African Doping Control Laboratory (SADoCoL) which is housed at the University of the Free State (UFS), have been selected to work at the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games, in Paris, France.

Elandré Williams and Betsie Human will support the Paris laboratory during both games. The Olympic Games will take place from 26 July to 11 August 2024 and the Paralympic Games from 28 August to 8 September 2024.

Williams will be involved in steroid profile analysis, which includes sample preparation, analysis and data processing by Gas Chromatography (GC) and Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS).

Part of the fight against doping 

“I am excited, optimistic and privileged to have been given this opportunity, but I have to say that I am also quite nervous as this is most probably the biggest sporting event of the year. Being a part of the fight against doping in sport remains a great responsibility as what we do directly impacts the athletes,” says Williams.

She says is looking forward to the entire experience, from doing what she loves on an international level, meeting other analysts in the field and being part of the fight against doping in sport on an Olympic level.

This is her first big international sporting event.

“I am also looking forward to learning from other experts in the field who have more experience and to witness the procedures and the manner in which the laboratory operates at this time where the sample numbers are extremely high with the added pressure to finalise results in short turn-around times. This is a great opportunity for growth, both individually and in my field of expertise, in the scientific and the doping control field.

“It will definitely be an advantage for me as an analyst to get exposure to how the entire analytical procedure is executed in another laboratory, as well as insight into possible new techniques and advancements that I will be able to apply back at SADoCoL. I also think this is a great way to improve my ideas, perspectives and level of expertise as I will be working and witnessing other scientific experts in the doping control field.”

Managing workflow and logistics at the Games

Human, who was an analyst at the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa, says she is both nervous and excited for this experience. 

“I was a junior analyst at SADoCoL during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, but you cannot compare a single-sport discipline with a multisport discipline like the Olympic Games – The Games will be exponentially bigger.

“In the past 14 years doping control as a whole has grown significantly. New technologies, updated requirements, more sensitive testing methods have emerged – this will be a new experience,” says Human.

She will also be involved with sample preparation/analysis/data processing and says she is looking forward to seeing how the work-flow and logistics associated with the Games (massive amounts of samples/tight deadlines etc) is managed in a high through-put laboratory.

“I am of course also looking forward to meeting analysts from other labs – we are a bit secluded here at the southern tip of Africa. Collaboration between labs is tricky when your closest neighbour is in Europe.

“It is always eye-opening to see how other labs manage similar situations (even though an Olympics is quite different from normal routine days) – exposure to new techniques and alternative thinking has a way of elevating your own thought processes and it promotes growth – both as an individual and as a doping control analyst.”

Immensely proud

Hanno du Preez, Director of SADoCoL, says the laboratory personnel are immensely proud that two of their staff members were chosen to participate in this international event, which for many scientists is the peak of their career. Similarly, this provides acknowledgement to the staff members for the area in which they have been working.

“It is only a select few who are requested to provide service at the Olympic Games. The work conducted in an Olympic laboratory provides experience which cannot be gained elsewhere. The workload and fast-paced analysis is something which the personnel are used to, but the Olympics will bring a different dimension to the processes. 

“We are excited to see what Betsie and Elandré bring back, with regards to new viewpoints on processes which are similar in all anti-doping laboratories. Individual experiences uplift everyone in a regulated business unit such as SADoCoL and also ensures improved relationships between laboratories, as other anti-doping laboratories will be represented at the Games as well. We wish them all the best for the experience, and we thank them for being dedicated ambassadors for SADoCoL and the UFS.”

News Archive

During 2011: Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP)
2011-12-01

The University has designed the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP) to promote and support the intellectual breadth and depth required of young scholars to pose questions and generate knowledge in their disciplines and hence to occupy the vanguards of contemporary intellectual enquiry. The programme specifically targets members of the academic staff who are near completion, or have newly completed, their doctoral studies.

The goal is to select no more than 100 of the most promising young scholars and to make substantial investments in their development towards becoming full professors. A tailored, intensive programme of support is designated that combines international placement working alongside leading scholars in the discipline of the prestige scholar, with intensive mentorship and support from within the university.

 Description: 2011 PSP_Thuthuka  Tags: 2011 PSP_Thuthuka

Elite young scholars on the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme generated R1,2 million in National Research Foundation Thuthuka and Blue Skies funding in 2011 alone. Dr Katinka de Wet in the Department of Sociology was awarded Blue Skies funding for her work on the Hybrid Identity of the HIV/Aids patient. Thuthuka Grant holders Drs Cilliers van den Berg, Olihile Sebolai, Dirk Opperman and Diaan van der Westhuizen work in the fields of German and Afrikaans trauma literature, microbiology, structural and evolutionary biology, and architecture, respectively. This broad disciplinary range typifies the depth and extraordinary range of scholarship present among junior academics at the UFS.


 Description: 2011 PSP_Liza Coetsee Tags: 2011 PSP_Liza Coetsee

Dr Liza Coetsee, a Y2-rated physicist, is the first of the Vice-Chancellor’s elite cohort of Prestige Scholars to submit for National Research Foundation rating. Dr Coetsee works on the latest of the Nanotechnology Surface Science systems housed in our Department of Physics. As Prestige Scholar, Dr Coetsee conducts research on phosphor solar cells. Her aim is to establish a new Phosphor Solar Cell field at the University of the Free State with Proff. Hendrik Swart and Koos Terblans. As a member of the Prestige Scholar Programme, Dr Coetsee will work in collaboration both with colleagues from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and Prof. Eray Aydil from the University of Minnesota and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology.


 Description: 2011 PSP_Olihile Sebolai Tags: 2011 PSP_Olihile Sebolai

Dr Olihile Sebolai is one of the 2 Vice-Chancellor’s elite Prestige Scholars and a microbiologist. In 2011, Dr Sebolai was awarded a Thuthuka Grant for his research on the yeast pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, the cause of life-threatening Aids-defining illnesses such as meningitis. Dr Sebolai considers how cryptococcal lipids mediate infectious processes leading to illness. An understanding of these cellular processes will offer hope for future drug development to combat the scourge of cryptococcal meningitis, annually causing the death of over half a million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Sebolai is also interested in mapping the prevalence and distribution pattern of cryptococcal meningitis in the Free State. This, in turn, will assist health authorities to manage current infections and plan appropriately for potential outbreaks. The Prestige Scholars Programme, with the assistance of the National Research Foundation, will afford Dr Sebolai the opportunity to pursue his research in laboratories in the United States and India in 2012 and 2013.


 Description: 2011 PSP_Louis Holtzhausen Tags: 2011 PSP_Louis Holtzhausen

Dr Louis Holtzhausen, member of the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme, has been named by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) as team doctor for Team South Africa during the All Africa Games, the largest sports event in Africa. National teams from African countries participated in 23 sports events. As an esteemed South African academic in sports medicine Dr Holtzhausens’ participation was an extension of the work already being done under his supervision at the UFS’s Sports Performance Unit. Many of the athletes who prepared at the Unit were also part of the team. Elite athletes’ illness and injury profiles are one of Dr Holtzhausens’ research focus areas. The exposure to this group in competition was of great value in the identification and development of research niche areas.


 Description: 2011 PSP_ Chantel Swart Tags: 2011 PSP_ Chantel Swart

The South African Society for Microbiology awarded Dr Chantel Swart-Pistor, a Prestige Scholar on the Vice-Chancellor’s elite programme, the top prize for her PhD during a recent gala dinner in Cape Town. Dr Swart-Pistor accomplished a breakthrough in the field of nanotechnology with The influence of mitochondrial inhibitors on zoospore and ascospore development. Her supervisor, Prof. Lodewyk Kock and co-supervisors, Dr Carolina Pohl and Prof. Pieter van Wyk, also stressed the important collaboration with Proff. Hendrik Swart (Physics) and Pieter van Wyk (Centre for Microscopy), which made Dr Swart-Pistor’s work possible. She has presented her work in Beijing (Medichem 2011) and Philadelphia (Biotechnology-2011). She has been invited to return to China in 2012.


 Description: 2011 PSP_ Lizette Erasmus Tags: 2011 PSP_ Lizette Erasmus

Dr Lizette Erasmus, scientific chemist and one of the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars, has just returned from a three-month-long research visit to Prof. Hans Niemantsverdriet at the Technical University of Eindhoven in The Netherlands and the University of California, Davis. Dr Erasmus specialises in heterogeneous catalysis. Her visit to Prof. Niemantsverdriet, one of the global experts in the field of surface science, served to round of existing research. In California, Dr Erasmus visited her mentor, Prof. Bruce C. Gates, as part of the objectives of the Rector’s programme for the internationalisation of young researchers. Prof. Gates, an expert in catalysis, could contribute to Dr Erasmus’ research on the characterisation of heterogeneous catalysis and catalytic reactions. In exchange, her expertise in organometallic synthesis added value to Prof. Gates’ existing research. Their continued collaboration gave availed them of the opportunity for interdisciplinary interaction between engineering (Prof. Gates’ speciality) and chemistry, and promises to contribute to increased collaboration between the two universities in future.


 Description: 2011 PSP_Dirk Opperman Tags: 2011 PSP_Dirk Opperman

Dr Dirk Opperman, specialist in structural and evolutionary biology and National Research Foundation Thuthuka Grant holder, joined the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme after his postdoctoral work at the Max Planck Institute (KOFO) in Germany. Dr Opperman is the recipient of institutional seed funding to establish a protein crystallisation unit, which in turn led to the donation in 2011 of a multi-million Rand X-ray diffractometer¬ from the University of the Western Cape to complement his existing access to international synchrotrons. Dr Opperman is spending part of 2011 at the University of Exeter (UK) to further his research into the three-dimensional structures of specific enzymes and their trajectories of evolution to specific functions.


 Description: 2011 PSP_Abiodun Ogundeji Tags: 2011 PSP_Abiodun Ogundeji

Abiodun Ogundeji is a member of the Vice-Chancellor's Prestige Scholars Programme. Abiodun's work was recently recognised when he and his co-authors received an award for the best contributed paper at the 49th annual conference of the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa on the topic, Impact of climate change on planning and dealing with flood disasters in South Africa: A case study of Soweto on Sea. The paper was co-authored by Prof. Giel Viljoen from our Department of Agricultural Economics and Herman Booysen, as well as Gawie du T. de Villiers, Research Associates in the Department of Geography. Abiodun is currently conducting invaluable research on the quantification of the economic value of climate change impacts and the benefits and costs of adaptation in South Africa.

 

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