GCRF - START: Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology
Lead Research Organisation:
Diamond Light Source
Department Name: Science Division
Abstract
START is a proposal to utilise Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology. It will build a partnership between world leading scientists in Africa and the UK who specialise in two strands of science; developing and characterising novel energy materials (catalysts and photovoltaics) and structural biology (understanding disease and developing drug targets). In START the research direction will be set by considering the local environment and through engagement with scientists, energy industry representatives and relevant non-governmental organisations (NGO's) across Africa.
Most importantly, START is not only about developing new energy materials or structural biology research; equally important is training the next generation of researchers and research leaders in these important areas of study. We will work together in sample fabrication and advanced characterisation through training visits between African and UK institutes. This will include experimental time at Diamond Light Source (the UK national synchrotron source) through peer reviewed access to many of the experimental facilities and in techniques that are the mainstay of understanding these materials. A major ambition of this partnership is to strengthen and broaden the network of synchrotron researchers in Africa, where there is a burgeoning ambition to exploit such facilities. This talent development will benefit the researchers themselves but also the local communities, society in general and the environment, through the reduction of burning fossil fuels and improved healthcare.
There are unique challenges to developing sustainable energy in Africa; the large fraction of off-grid consumers, the degradation of energy devices in an environment of heat and dust and the high initial capital costs for traditional installations of energy production or storage systems. Similarly challenging is addressing the health needs on the African continent, where diseases like tuberculosis and malaria negatively affect whole societies. The first step to finding and developing cures is to understand the molecular structure. Thus for both strands of research, synchrotron radiation for structure determination is at the core of scientific progress. It is critical that the countries in Africa expand their own capabilities to produce the next generation of appropriate energy materials and development of cures for relevant diseases. START aims to aid those developments through building the capacity and capability of African based scientists in both strands.
The START team is driven by the ambition to work together to solve these two strands of research, addressing some of the most pressing problems that will directly impact on peoples lives. This proposal is directly in line with the development aspirations of the African Nations who have a stated ambition to 'transform Africa from traditional to modern sources of energy and ensure access of all Africans to clean and affordable electricity' and 'Develop/implement strategies for the growth of the pharmaceutical industry in Africa'. Our aspirations are furthermore directly in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of Affordable and Clean Energy (Goal 7) and Climate Action (Goal 13) as well as Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being). START will help to contribute in all of these areas, which crucially underpin many of the further Sustainable Development Goals.
Most importantly, START is not only about developing new energy materials or structural biology research; equally important is training the next generation of researchers and research leaders in these important areas of study. We will work together in sample fabrication and advanced characterisation through training visits between African and UK institutes. This will include experimental time at Diamond Light Source (the UK national synchrotron source) through peer reviewed access to many of the experimental facilities and in techniques that are the mainstay of understanding these materials. A major ambition of this partnership is to strengthen and broaden the network of synchrotron researchers in Africa, where there is a burgeoning ambition to exploit such facilities. This talent development will benefit the researchers themselves but also the local communities, society in general and the environment, through the reduction of burning fossil fuels and improved healthcare.
There are unique challenges to developing sustainable energy in Africa; the large fraction of off-grid consumers, the degradation of energy devices in an environment of heat and dust and the high initial capital costs for traditional installations of energy production or storage systems. Similarly challenging is addressing the health needs on the African continent, where diseases like tuberculosis and malaria negatively affect whole societies. The first step to finding and developing cures is to understand the molecular structure. Thus for both strands of research, synchrotron radiation for structure determination is at the core of scientific progress. It is critical that the countries in Africa expand their own capabilities to produce the next generation of appropriate energy materials and development of cures for relevant diseases. START aims to aid those developments through building the capacity and capability of African based scientists in both strands.
The START team is driven by the ambition to work together to solve these two strands of research, addressing some of the most pressing problems that will directly impact on peoples lives. This proposal is directly in line with the development aspirations of the African Nations who have a stated ambition to 'transform Africa from traditional to modern sources of energy and ensure access of all Africans to clean and affordable electricity' and 'Develop/implement strategies for the growth of the pharmaceutical industry in Africa'. Our aspirations are furthermore directly in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of Affordable and Clean Energy (Goal 7) and Climate Action (Goal 13) as well as Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being). START will help to contribute in all of these areas, which crucially underpin many of the further Sustainable Development Goals.
Planned Impact
START will be beneficial to the economic development and welfare of many countries across Africa. These countries have the stated ambition to move to economies driven by amongst others; Science, Technology and Innovation; Human Capital Development; and Infrastructural Development. START will have an impact in all of these areas, in particular in the countries involved in this partnership, namely South Africa, Lesotho, Ethiopia and Egypt. The African and UK investigators will work together to develop and characterise new materials of relevance to solar energy conversion and catalysis (strand 1) as well as to characterise proteins of relevance to better understand diseases and develop drugs (strand 2). Both are considered grand global challenges. The most promising materials and drugs will find their way into new products, commercialised by local industries (African and UK) that will directly benefit the national economies and lead to an improved energy infrastructure and healthier continent.
An equally important aspect of START is training the researchers and societal engagement that will lead to an 'inclusive and equitable quality education'; another of the stated aims of the Global Challenge Research Fund. There is a strong element of focused scientific training for the researchers but this will be supplemented by innovation and entrepreneurship training, to help them towards roles in scientific leadership as their careers develop. The unique training opportunity available at Diamond Light Source will expand the capability and numbers of researchers experienced with the characterisation techniques, essential to gain a full understanding of the novel materials and structure determination of proteins. The active outreach programme that we will implement as part of START will be another route to engage with the broader scientific community, the general public and with children. We will work together with Diamond Light Source's highly respected Communications team to present the START research and broader context of the programme at public open days, writing articles for public and general science literature, through schools talks and science fairs, website design and creating an active social media presence.
START will provide a lasting legacy; this project will kick-start lifelong collaborations for research and development of energy materials and research into drugs. The team includes investigators at all stages of their careers to provide a balance of experience, enthusiasm and ambition that will lead to a dynamic programme of research and a team that will drive forward future projects.
An equally important aspect of START is training the researchers and societal engagement that will lead to an 'inclusive and equitable quality education'; another of the stated aims of the Global Challenge Research Fund. There is a strong element of focused scientific training for the researchers but this will be supplemented by innovation and entrepreneurship training, to help them towards roles in scientific leadership as their careers develop. The unique training opportunity available at Diamond Light Source will expand the capability and numbers of researchers experienced with the characterisation techniques, essential to gain a full understanding of the novel materials and structure determination of proteins. The active outreach programme that we will implement as part of START will be another route to engage with the broader scientific community, the general public and with children. We will work together with Diamond Light Source's highly respected Communications team to present the START research and broader context of the programme at public open days, writing articles for public and general science literature, through schools talks and science fairs, website design and creating an active social media presence.
START will provide a lasting legacy; this project will kick-start lifelong collaborations for research and development of energy materials and research into drugs. The team includes investigators at all stages of their careers to provide a balance of experience, enthusiasm and ambition that will lead to a dynamic programme of research and a team that will drive forward future projects.
Organisations
- Diamond Light Source (Lead Research Organisation)
- Abo Akdemi University (Collaboration)
- Wits Health Consortium (Collaboration)
- Heliatek GmbH (Collaboration)
- DIAMOND LIGHT SOURCE (Collaboration)
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (Collaboration)
- Stellenbosch University (Collaboration)
- BioStruct-Africa (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS (Collaboration)
- Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (Collaboration)
- Kurt J Lesker Company (Collaboration)
- University of Cape Town (Collaboration)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- National University of the Littoral (Collaboration)
- Oxford Photovoltaics (Collaboration)
- RMIT University (Collaboration)
- University of Free State, Bloemfontein (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
- MERCK (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW (Collaboration)
- International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) (Collaboration)
- Weizmann Institute of Science (Collaboration)
- Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) (Collaboration)
- National University of Singapore (Collaboration)
- Eight19 (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD (Collaboration)
- Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (Collaboration)
- Johnson Matthey (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
Publications
Abrie J. A.
(2018)
Investigation into the Mechanism of Homo- and Heterodimerization of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (vol 93, pg 344, 2018)
in MOLECULAR PHARMACOLOGY
Akinbami O
(2021)
The effect of temperature and time on the properties of 2D Cs 2 ZnBr 4 perovskite nanocrystals and their application in a Schottky barrier device
in Journal of Materials Chemistry C
Akumadu BO
(2020)
Molecular basis of inhibition of Schistosoma japonicum glutathione transferase by ellagic acid: Insights into biophysical and structural studies.
in Molecular and biochemical parasitology
Alanazi TI
(2020)
Potassium iodide reduces the stability of triple-cation perovskite solar cells.
in RSC advances
Anye V
(2022)
Structural and biophysical characterization of the multidomain xylanase Xyl.
in PloS one
Arendse LB
(2022)
Probing the Requirements for Dual Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme C-Domain Selective/Neprilysin Inhibition.
in Journal of medicinal chemistry
Aschenbrenner J
(2021)
Structure of the fungal hydroxylase, CYP505A30, and rational transfer of mutation data from CYP102A1 to alter regioselectivity
in Catalysis Science & Technology
Baek M
(2021)
Accurate prediction of protein structures and interactions using a three-track neural network.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
| Title | ABC network residency Emma Hambly |
| Description | The AFMD Group and Emma Hambly worked together, leading to Emma Hambly winning a ABC network residency fellowship/residence with us for working on the science-art interface. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | Sketches and pictures, capturing the idea generation process, with the goal to present something for/at COP26. |
| Title | Keiskamma Art Project - Tapestries relating to START Science |
| Description | The Keiskamma Art Project have now started to make 500mm square artworks relating to each of the 22 START PIs research projects. Each group of scientists have distilled their research into image ideas which will then be skillfully translated into tapestry panels that will inspire dialogue about START science with a far wider audience. These artworks will be transported between the UK and Africa and can form part of exhibitions or events, we would also like to produce a calendar and the artworks will eventually find a home in each of the PI's institutions. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | One of the main objectives of the START project (objective 5) is for us to engage with a broader audience (scientists, policymakers, general public and children) about what synchrotron techniques can do to address UN sustainable development goals. This will have a particular emphasis on the societal/ research issues specific to Africa, in particular: affordable and clean energy, climate action, good health and well-being as well as gender equality, clean water and sanitation, reduced inequality, sustainable cities and communities. The Keiskamma Trust was established in 2002 by doctor and artist Dr. Carol Hofmeyer, in an effort to uplift the local communities in the Eastern Cape with the vision of building healthy communities in all respects. It was in response to the extreme poverty and high percentage of HIV/AIDS affected families in the area. The Keiskamma Trust is a community organisation, centred in Hamburg, which works to foster hope and offer support for the most vulnerable. The Trust strives to address the challenges of widespread poverty and disease through holistic and creative programmes and partnerships. Most famously, in the entrance to the South African Parliament is a remarkable piece of artwork which winds its way along the wall, its 120-metre length reaching through the lobby to wrap around the exterior of the chamber. This is the Keiskamma Tapestry, an exquisite embroidery in the tradition of the famous Bayeux Tapestry and the work of over 100 previously unemployed women from the Eastern Cape. Currently the tapestries are being created, but it has been a useful process for the scientists to develop their imagery ideas and think about communicating their research in this new way. Exhibition opportunities for the work are also being planned. There has been a direct economic benefit for the women in the community who are working on the project. The artists have engaged with the science, but the biggest impact will happen when we exhibit the panels at Universities and secondary schools with the accompanying text from each research group. |
| URL | http://www.keiskamma.org/ |
| Description | The range of science that has been undertaken is broad and in the field of energy materials and structural biology. Some of the key findings have focused on improving the understanding of the role of catalysts in a number of reactions including syngas production and methanol synthesis. On the biological side, work has been undertaken to understand how different drugs could target AIDS or other macromolecular structures relevant to human, animal and plant health such as heart disease or malaria. |
| Exploitation Route | The award has so far resulted in 85 publications that have led to other studies. The links with the catalysis hub in the research complex at harwell is one route to explotation and the protein work is available for others to build on through the protein data bank. |
| Sectors | Chemicals,Energy,Healthcare,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| URL | http://www.start-project.org |
| Description | This award has led to a number of awards and improved infrastructure in South Africa both for Energy Materials research and structural biology research. The imporved infrastructure has enabled new collaborations and users to access advanced instrumentation and ultimately beamtime at the synchrotron. The award was also essential in securing further funding to build on the start legacy in the Health science area. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Chemicals,Energy,Healthcare,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | Input into IOP funding request for UK-Africa collaboration |
| Geographic Reach | Africa |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Presentation to STFC ODA Governance Board |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | This was the first major STFC award under the GCRF programme and as such the ways of working were developed between the grant holders and STFC. This has included developing the due diligence policy and the monitoring procedures. |
| Description | EPSRC Capital Award in Support of Early Career Researchers |
| Amount | £21,684 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/S017658/1 |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2019 |
| End | 03/2020 |
| Title | Blue Native PAGE grid blotting |
| Description | We have used a combination of blue native PAGE for isolating cytoplasmic proteins, grid-blotting and mass-spectrometry for the first time. This has allowed us to solve the structures- and identify native proteins from Mycobacterium smegmatis. |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Protein expression and purification are one of the limiting steps in structure determination experiments. We are now able to apply a shotgun approach to structure solution by isolating protein complexes by blue native PAGE and directly transferring them onto EM grids for data collection. The transferred bands can then be identified by mass-spectrometry. |
| Title | MINERVA chamber |
| Description | A new vacuum chamber has been built that directly enables in-situ monitoring of the structural changes during growth of molecular materials studied by grazing incidence x-ray scattering techniques. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Papers are in preparation to identify the dynamics of growth and the effect is in-situ crystallisation. |
| Title | Our Group's Github Page |
| Description | Following Open Science/Innovation approaches, we put all our code, procedures and design up on github |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Code, procedures and designs available online, this webpage is continuously updated and as such the outcome date is always moved to the most recent year. |
| URL | https://github.com/AFMD |
| Title | Protein crystallisation of pantothenamide derivates with PanK enzyme (Stellenbosch University) |
| Description | The PanK enzyme was expressed and purified from E.coli cells. Two different pantothenamide derivatives were incubated with PanK and the crystallisation conditions were screened against various reservoir solutions. Using the optimised crystallisation conditions, X-ray diffraction patterns were obtained. The incubated protein and as well the stock solutions were then shipped to Diamond Light Source for further experiments at the Synchrotron. |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This work is ongoing, Stellenbosch University's plan is to go to the Diamond Light Source to obtain the X-ray crystal structures of our pantothenamide derivatives bound to PanK. With the protein crystallisation conditions in hand, we can now carry on to the next step in terms of obtaining X-ray diffraction patterns at the Diamond Light Source. The results will greatly help us in our understanding of how the pantothenamide derivates interact with the PanK enzyme. We can then design better pantothenamide inhibitors based on this results. |
| Title | Synthesis of phosphopantothenamide derivatives that inhibit the synthesis of acetyl-CoA in Staphylococcus aureu (Stellenbosch University) |
| Description | The derivatives were synthesised from commercially available precursors. The synthetic procedures were optimised over this period of time to address the underlying problems that the University has faced such as separation difficulties, purity issues and the yield of the obtained products. We are currently in the final stages of obtaining the desired final compounds. |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The synthesis of the phosphopantothenamide derivatives will provide us with the necessary materials for our biochemical experiments. Some of the derivatives are costly to obtain or not commercially available thus synthesising it in-house eliminates these problems. In addition, the synthetic procedures to synthesise the derivatives can be published in a peer-reviewed chemistry journal. The synthesis of the phosphopantotenamide derivatives will be completed and the synthetic procedures will be published in a peer-reviewed chemistry journal. |
| Title | Upgrade of MINERVA chamber |
| Description | Developed an imporved lower chamber to enable coevporation of up to 3 different molecules to enable studies of doped organic samples of relevance to photovoltaics |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | None as yet - to be used for future beamtime experiments |
| Title | Using XChem at Diamond Light Source to discover potential new antimicrobial scaffolds |
| Description | This research method is carried out by means of the XChem workflow at Diamond, which relies on high-throughput screening of protein crystals soaked with a library of fragments. Hit fragments identified in this manner will be characterized further through a variety of in vitro enzyme inhibition and biophysical binding assays, with the information gained in this manner being used for the elaboration of the fragments into building blocks for the development of novel antimicrobial inhibitors. |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | SaPanK project: Based on the data that we have obtained from the fragment screening performed in March 2019, we have identified several hits that were bound to the SaPanK protein. However, it was determined that none of the fragments displaces the original ligand (phospho-N7-Pan) from the active site as predicted, but rather bound to the surface of the protein in an apparently previously unidentified allosteric site. We are proposing that the bound compounds at this site can potentially act as allosteric inhibitors of the enzyme. SaMerA project: In a previous project SaMerA was shown to be involved in the host-microbe response, specifically as a bacterial defense mechanism detoxifying a neutrophil derived antimicrobial reactive chlorine species. XChem identified several small molecule hits, two of which were bound to the active site of the protein. These fragment hits have led to two follow-up projects involving the Opentrons parallel synthesis setup in the Von Delft group at DLS as well as covalent inhibitor screening with the London group at the Weizmann Institute of Science. |
| Title | Cryo-EM structures of monomeric and dimeric human somatic angiotensin I-converting enzyme (apo form) |
| Description | Cryo-EM structure |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publication |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/empiar/EMPIAR-10980/ |
| Title | Local refinement structure of a single N-domain of full-length, dimeric, soluble somatic angiotensin I-converting enzyme |
| Description | Cryo-EM Structure |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publication |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/pdb/7q4e |
| Title | Local refinement structure of the C-domain of full-length, monomeric, soluble somatic angiotensin I-converting enzyme |
| Description | Cryo-EM Structure |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publication |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/pdb/7q4c |
| Title | Local refinement structure of the N-domain of full-length, monomeric, soluble somatic angiotensin I-converting enzyme |
| Description | Cryo-EM structure |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publication |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/pdb/7q49 |
| Title | Local refinement structure of the two interacting N-domains of full-length, dimeric, soluble somatic angiotensin I-converting enzyme |
| Description | Cryo-EM structure |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publication |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/search/index/?searchParams=%7B%22q_pdb_id%22:%5B%7B%22value%22:%227... |
| Title | PDB Deposition 6I00 |
| Description | Cryo-EM informed directed evolution of Nitrilase 4 leads to a change in quaternary structure. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | In paper Cryo-EM and directed evolution reveal howArabidopsisnitrilase specificity is influenced by its quaternary structure. (2019) Mulelu, A.E., Kirykowicz, A.M., Woodward, J.D. Commun Biol 2: 260-260 |
| URL | http://www.rcsb.org/structure/6I00 |
| Title | PDB Deposition 6I45 |
| Description | Crystal structure of I13V/I62V/V77I South African HIV-1 subtype C protease containing a D25A mutation |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publication: Crystal structure of I13V/I62V/V77I South African HIV-1 subtype C protease containing a D25A mutation. Sherry, D., Pandian, R., Achilonu, I.A., Dirr, H.W., Sayed, Y. To be published. |
| URL | http://www.rcsb.org/structure/6I45 |
| Title | PDB Deposition 6I5T |
| Description | Cryo-EM informed directed evolution of Nitrilase 4 leads to a change in quaternary structure. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Paper: Cryo-EM informed directed evolution of nitrilase 4 leads to a change in quaternary structure. Mulelu, A.E., Kirykowicz, A.M., Woodward, J.D. To be published. |
| URL | https://www.rcsb.org/structure/6i5t |
| Title | PDB Deposition 6I5U |
| Description | Cryo-EM informed directed evolution of Nitrilase 4 leads to a change in quaternary structure. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Paper: Cryo-EM informed directed evolution of nitrilase 4 leads to a change in quaternary structure. Mulelu, A.E., Kirykowicz, A.M., Woodward, J.D. |
| URL | https://www.rcsb.org/structure/6i5u |
| Title | PDB Deposition 6RWD |
| Description | Crystal structure of SjGST in complex with GSH and ellagic acid at 1.53 Angstrom resolution |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publication: Molecular basis of the inhibition of Schistosoma japonicum glutathione transferase by ellagic acid: insights into structure and biophysical studies. Jessica, O., Pandian, R., Sayed, Y., Dirr, H.W., Achilonu, I.A. To be published. |
| URL | http://www.rcsb.org/structure/6RWD |
| Title | PDB Deposition EMD-0320 |
| Description | Cryo-EM informed directed evolution of Nitrilase 4 leads to a change in quaternary structure. Source organism: Arabidopsis thaliana |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Paper: Cryo-EM and directed evolution reveal howArabidopsisnitrilase specificity is influenced by its quaternary structure. (2019) Mulelu AE, Kirykowicz AM, Woodward JD Commun Biol 2 260-260 |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/emdb/EMD-0320 |
| Title | PDB Deposition EMD-10004 |
| Description | Native encapsulated dye decolourising type peroxidase from Mycobacterium smegmatis |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Part of current research activity |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/emdb/EMD-10004 |
| Title | PDB Deposition EMD-10005 |
| Description | Native bacterioferritin from Mycobacterium smegmatis |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Part of current research activity |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/emdb/EMD-10005 |
| Title | PDB Deposition EMD-10008 |
| Description | Native encapsulin with bound dye decolourising peroxidase on three fold axis |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Part of current research activity |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/emdb/EMD-10008 |
| Title | PDB Deposition EMD-4185 |
| Description | Human GroEL obtained by grid-blotting from blue native PAGE |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Part of current research interests |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/emdb/EMD-4185 |
| Title | PDB Deposition EMD-4186 |
| Description | Glutamine synthetase I from Mycobacterium smegmatis |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Part of current research activity |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/emdb/EMD-4186 |
| Title | PDB Deposition EMD-4406 |
| Description | Cryo-EM informed directed evolution of Nitrilase 4 leads to a change in quaternary structure. Source organism: Arabidopsis thaliana |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Paper: Cryo-EM and directed evolution reveal howArabidopsisnitrilase specificity is influenced by its quaternary structure. (2019) Mulelu AE, Kirykowicz AM, Woodward JD Commun Biol 2 260-260 |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/emdb/EMD-4406 |
| Title | PDB Deposition EMD-4407 |
| Description | Cryo-EM informed directed evolution of Nitrilase 4 leads to a change in quaternary structure. Source organism: Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Paper: Cryo-EM and directed evolution reveal howArabidopsisnitrilase specificity is influenced by its quaternary structure. (2019) Mulelu AE, Kirykowicz AM, Woodward JD Commun Biol 2 260-260 |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/emdb/EMD-4407 |
| Title | PDB Deposition EMD-4418 |
| Description | Cryo-EM informed directed evolution of Nitrilase 4 leads to a change in quaternary structure. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Part of a Nature paper. |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/emdb/EMD-4418 |
| Title | PDB Deposition EMD-4420 |
| Description | Cryo-EM informed directed evolution of Nitrilase 4 leads to a change in quaternary structure. Source organism: Arabidopsis thaliana Active helical nitrilase complex |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Part of a Nature paper. |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/emdb/EMD-4420 |
| Title | PDB Deposition EMD-4804 |
| Description | Cryo-EM informed directed evolution of Nitrilase 4 leads to a change in quaternary structure. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Paper: Cryo-EM and directed evolution reveal howArabidopsisnitrilase specificity is influenced by its quaternary structure. (2019) Mulelu AE, Kirykowicz AM, Woodward JD. Commun Biol 2 260-260 |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/emdb/EMD-4804 |
| Title | Structure of full-length, monomeric, soluble somatic angiotensin I-converting enzyme showing the N- and C-terminal ellipsoid domains |
| Description | Cryo-EM structure |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Publication |
| URL | https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/entry/search/index/?searchParams=%7B%22q_pdb_id%22:%5B%7B%22value%22:%227... |
| Description | BioStruct-Africa: Teaching & Beamtime with Ralf Flaig contributing to a training course in Structural Biology - January 2019 |
| Organisation | BioStruct-Africa |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | BioStruct-Africa, is a non-profit organization whose core aim is capacity building for African students and researchers in the field of structural biology with a focus on prevalent diseases in the African continent. BioStruct-Africa recently conducted hands-on training in structural biology at the University of Ghana in January 2019. The workshops primarily focused on the practical aspects of protein crystallization, vapour diffusion, crystal harvesting, cryo-cooling and, finally, remote X-ray diffraction data collection at Diamond Light Source. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The final lecture was delivered by Dr Ralf Flaig, Principal Beamline Scientist on the MX beamline I04 at DLS, entitled 'Practical data collection at a synchrotron, pre and post beam time - what can I do?'. The final part of the course was remote data collection, linking the University of Ghana and Diamond. |
| Impact | Further development of skilled researchers from across Africa |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | CCP4 Crystallographic School in South Africa, from Data Collection to Structure Refinement and Beyond |
| Organisation | Diamond Light Source |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Carmien Tolmie is a main local organizer for the workshop |
| Collaborator Contribution | CCP4 financially contributed significantly to the workshop and also assists in organization, the University of Cape Town is also responsible for a large portion of the organization (specifically Trevor Sewell). Staff from |
| Impact | Yes, the workshop will commence 31 March 2020. In addition to providing excellent training for the participants, it is an excellent opportunity for network building among the participants, who come from Africa and beyond. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | CCP4 Crystallographic School in South Africa, from Data Collection to Structure Refinement and Beyond |
| Organisation | International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Carmien Tolmie is a main local organizer for the workshop |
| Collaborator Contribution | CCP4 financially contributed significantly to the workshop and also assists in organization, the University of Cape Town is also responsible for a large portion of the organization (specifically Trevor Sewell). Staff from |
| Impact | Yes, the workshop will commence 31 March 2020. In addition to providing excellent training for the participants, it is an excellent opportunity for network building among the participants, who come from Africa and beyond. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | CCP4 Crystallographic School in South Africa, from Data Collection to Structure Refinement and Beyond |
| Organisation | University of Cape Town |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Carmien Tolmie is a main local organizer for the workshop |
| Collaborator Contribution | CCP4 financially contributed significantly to the workshop and also assists in organization, the University of Cape Town is also responsible for a large portion of the organization (specifically Trevor Sewell). Staff from |
| Impact | Yes, the workshop will commence 31 March 2020. In addition to providing excellent training for the participants, it is an excellent opportunity for network building among the participants, who come from Africa and beyond. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | CLASP - Diamond, Oxford, ISIS |
| Organisation | Eight19 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Beamline I07 at Diamond will develop the techniques required to understand the microstructure of organic photovoltaic interfaces using X-ray scattering. We will apply for beamtime and be fully involved in the data taking and data analysis. Methods will include determination of crystallinity and domain size; as well as developing methods for in-situ characterisation of the structures during vacuum deposition. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Diamond, ISIS and Oxford provide the academic drive for the project on organic photovoltaics. The other companies will develop chemicals, processes and equipment to help enable the project. The grant has only just started so developments are at an early stage. |
| Impact | Formal collaboration agreement. Design of in-situ chamber underway. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | CLASP - Diamond, Oxford, ISIS |
| Organisation | Kurt J Lesker Company |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Beamline I07 at Diamond will develop the techniques required to understand the microstructure of organic photovoltaic interfaces using X-ray scattering. We will apply for beamtime and be fully involved in the data taking and data analysis. Methods will include determination of crystallinity and domain size; as well as developing methods for in-situ characterisation of the structures during vacuum deposition. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Diamond, ISIS and Oxford provide the academic drive for the project on organic photovoltaics. The other companies will develop chemicals, processes and equipment to help enable the project. The grant has only just started so developments are at an early stage. |
| Impact | Formal collaboration agreement. Design of in-situ chamber underway. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | CLASP - Diamond, Oxford, ISIS |
| Organisation | Merck |
| Department | Merck UK |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Beamline I07 at Diamond will develop the techniques required to understand the microstructure of organic photovoltaic interfaces using X-ray scattering. We will apply for beamtime and be fully involved in the data taking and data analysis. Methods will include determination of crystallinity and domain size; as well as developing methods for in-situ characterisation of the structures during vacuum deposition. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Diamond, ISIS and Oxford provide the academic drive for the project on organic photovoltaics. The other companies will develop chemicals, processes and equipment to help enable the project. The grant has only just started so developments are at an early stage. |
| Impact | Formal collaboration agreement. Design of in-situ chamber underway. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | CLASP - Diamond, Oxford, ISIS |
| Organisation | Oxford Photovoltaics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Beamline I07 at Diamond will develop the techniques required to understand the microstructure of organic photovoltaic interfaces using X-ray scattering. We will apply for beamtime and be fully involved in the data taking and data analysis. Methods will include determination of crystallinity and domain size; as well as developing methods for in-situ characterisation of the structures during vacuum deposition. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Diamond, ISIS and Oxford provide the academic drive for the project on organic photovoltaics. The other companies will develop chemicals, processes and equipment to help enable the project. The grant has only just started so developments are at an early stage. |
| Impact | Formal collaboration agreement. Design of in-situ chamber underway. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | CLASP - Diamond, Oxford, ISIS |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Department | ISIS Neutron and Muon Source |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Beamline I07 at Diamond will develop the techniques required to understand the microstructure of organic photovoltaic interfaces using X-ray scattering. We will apply for beamtime and be fully involved in the data taking and data analysis. Methods will include determination of crystallinity and domain size; as well as developing methods for in-situ characterisation of the structures during vacuum deposition. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Diamond, ISIS and Oxford provide the academic drive for the project on organic photovoltaics. The other companies will develop chemicals, processes and equipment to help enable the project. The grant has only just started so developments are at an early stage. |
| Impact | Formal collaboration agreement. Design of in-situ chamber underway. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | CLASP - Diamond, Oxford, ISIS |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Department of Physics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Beamline I07 at Diamond will develop the techniques required to understand the microstructure of organic photovoltaic interfaces using X-ray scattering. We will apply for beamtime and be fully involved in the data taking and data analysis. Methods will include determination of crystallinity and domain size; as well as developing methods for in-situ characterisation of the structures during vacuum deposition. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Diamond, ISIS and Oxford provide the academic drive for the project on organic photovoltaics. The other companies will develop chemicals, processes and equipment to help enable the project. The grant has only just started so developments are at an early stage. |
| Impact | Formal collaboration agreement. Design of in-situ chamber underway. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Cryo-EM of furin-cleaved HPV16 |
| Organisation | University of Cape Town |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Jeremy Woodward is co-supervising one of Dr Georgia Scaefer's MSc students to prepare samples for cryo-EM, collect and process the data and interpret the structures. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr Schaefer is providing purified pseudovirions and is funding an MSc student to perform cryo-EM analysis. |
| Impact | Dr Schaefer is an associate member of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town. As a result of START funding, Jeremy is able to reach out to support other groups alongside his own research interests. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Crystallographic research - collaboration beween National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NICD) and the University of the Free State |
| Organisation | University of Free State, Bloemfontein |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | GCRF START provides funding to the two partner organisations to enable them to research using synchrotron techniques available at Diamond Light Source (through training and research investigations). |
| Collaborator Contribution | Thandeka Moyo, Postdoctoral Research Fellow took part in a research visit to START co-investigator Dirk Opperman's laboratory at the University of the Free State, South Africa to learn specific crystallography techniques, from 28 - 30 November 2018. Dr Thandeka Moyo successfully obtained crystals which were analysed at the Diamond synchrotron on 14 December 2018. The collaboration with other START investigators at other institutes has strengthened the structural biology expertise in our laboratory. The postdoctoral fellow who has been attending all the training is now equipped with theoretical and practical experience to independently conduct X-ray crystallographic experiments. We have sent crystals to two beamtime sessions and have got diffraction data which we are currently optimizing. |
| Impact | We aim to obtain high resolution crystal structures as our current structures are not at atomic resolution. We also aim to continue with our current collaborations and build new ones with other START co-investigators. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Crystallographic research - collaboration beween National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NICD) and the University of the Free State |
| Organisation | Wits Health Consortium |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | GCRF START provides funding to the two partner organisations to enable them to research using synchrotron techniques available at Diamond Light Source (through training and research investigations). |
| Collaborator Contribution | Thandeka Moyo, Postdoctoral Research Fellow took part in a research visit to START co-investigator Dirk Opperman's laboratory at the University of the Free State, South Africa to learn specific crystallography techniques, from 28 - 30 November 2018. Dr Thandeka Moyo successfully obtained crystals which were analysed at the Diamond synchrotron on 14 December 2018. The collaboration with other START investigators at other institutes has strengthened the structural biology expertise in our laboratory. The postdoctoral fellow who has been attending all the training is now equipped with theoretical and practical experience to independently conduct X-ray crystallographic experiments. We have sent crystals to two beamtime sessions and have got diffraction data which we are currently optimizing. |
| Impact | We aim to obtain high resolution crystal structures as our current structures are not at atomic resolution. We also aim to continue with our current collaborations and build new ones with other START co-investigators. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through Cardiff University |
| Organisation | Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners outside of the UK, specifcally computational methods to link with experimental research. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through Cardiff University |
| Organisation | National University of Singapore |
| Country | Singapore |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners outside of South Africa and the UK. Extension of computational methods outside of the project and to new partners. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. Application of computational methods to novel systems of interest. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through Cardiff University |
| Organisation | RMIT University |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners outside of South Africa and UK |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through Cardiff University |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners outside of South Africa and the UK. Extension of computational methods outside of the project and to new partners. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. Application of computational methods to novel systems of interest. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through Cardiff University |
| Organisation | University of Cape Town |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners with other contacts in South Africa. Extension of computational methods to other potential investigators in Africa. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. Expert knowledge of particular materials where computational methods could help to establish the structure and mechanism of operation of the catalyst. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through Cardiff University |
| Organisation | University of Salford |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners outside of South Africa and the UK. Extension of computational methods outside of the project and to new partners. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. Application of computational methods to novel systems of interest. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through Diamond Light Source Ltd |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners within the UK. Making use of the equipment developed during the grant to study related materials from the Imperial College group. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. Bringing new type of molecular samples to be studied using the Minerva equipment and developing methodologies for measuring thin films in-situ. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through Stellenbosch University |
| Organisation | University of Stellenbosch |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners Inside South Africa and within other departments. Growht of START network within the University to new investigators. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. Expert knowledge of specific proteins or viruses that could be studied using the macromolecular crystallography techniques available at Diamond. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through Stellenbosch University |
| Organisation | Weizmann Institute of Science |
| Country | Israel |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners outside of South Africa and the UK. Expansion of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. Application of methods to additional interesting protein structures. |
| Impact | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through University of Cape Town |
| Organisation | University of Glasgow |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners with UK universities. Cape Town brings expertise on development of specific catalyst materials. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. The Glasgow group of Emma Gibson has extensive knowledge in the application of interpretation of X-ray spectroscopic methods to these materials. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through University of Oxford |
| Organisation | Abo Akdemi University |
| Country | Finland |
| Sector | Hospitals |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners outside the UK and South Africa. Samples can be provided that can be studied in conjunction with this group who have expertise in specialist techniques. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. Expertise in specific type of measurement of devices. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through University of Oxford |
| Organisation | Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology |
| Country | Kenya |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners outside the UK in other areas of Africa. Specifically producing samples in Kenya that could be studied using the Cluster system in Oxford or the facilties at Diamond Light Source. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. Characterisation and advice on sample production. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through University of Witwatersrand |
| Organisation | Brookhaven National Laboratory |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Successful EXAFs measurements done with Bruce Ravel at NSLS-II at BNL. The collaboration was instigated through the START project and one of Diamond Co-I, The Wits team progress in the use of XAS is largely thanks to the bootstrapping in XAS they received as part of START and ANSDAC connections. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Bruce Ravel at NSLS-II at BNL provided support during the EXAF measurements |
| Impact | Data gathered from beamtime |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through University of Witwatersrand |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners in the UK. Specifically the group in Witwatersrand is providing samples for the collaboration in the area of perovskite naterials to study. There is also a plan for a 6 week research visit to Oxford to cement the collaboration. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. Providing the expertise to characterise the samples using state of the art techniques and hosting the research visit when Covid restrictions allow. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through University of the Free State |
| Organisation | National University of the Littoral |
| Country | Argentina |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners outside of the UK and South Africa |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through University of the Free State |
| Organisation | University of Free State, Bloemfontein |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners within the same University but in different fields of research (Faculty of Health Sciences, Virology Department. National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Expansion of the GCRF START network through University of the Free State |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Nuffield Department of Medicine |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners outside of South Africa (Nuffield Department of Medicine. Clinical Infection, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust). |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing of knowledge and expertise between partners. Bring different expertise on the more clinical aspects of the protein structures under study. |
| Impact | Working on shared challenges and publications |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | H3D/University of Leeds collaboration: Plasmodium Aurora-related kinases |
| Organisation | University of Leeds |
| Department | Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D) at UCT has vast experience in malaria drug discovery and has the chemical equity for putative Plasmodium Aurora-related kinase inhibitors displaying antiplasmodium activity that led to the initiation of this project. The well-established drug discovery platform at H3D consists of medicinal chemistry, parasitology, ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion)/DMPK (drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics) and computer-aided drug design. Over the past two years, Dr Arendse has been leading the efforts at H3D to set up a Plasmodium kinase platform for target-based drug discovery, expanding the malaria platform to include recombinant protein expression, enzymology and structural biology. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Bayliss group based at the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds has done extensive work focused on the structure, function, regulation and inhibition of human Aurora kinases. The Bayliss group hosted Dr. Arendse, a START postoctoral fellow at the time, for a six-week research visit which was funded by a Cheney Fellowship awarded to Prof. Kelly Chibale. During this visit Dr. Arendse gained practical experience expressing and purifying human Aurora-A and become familiar with carrying out human Aurora kinase assays, adapting the assays into a suitable format for off-target compound screening at H3D. Combining H3D's expertise in malaria drug discovery with the Bayliss group's expertise in Aurora kinases will enable H3D to more rapidly gain insight into the structure and function of the Plasmodium Aurora kinases and establish the required in vitro assays, including the off-target human Aurora kinase assays, to support a drug discovery program targeting these enzymes. |
| Impact | Research techniques learnt at Astbury are now being developed in the labs at H3D. This placement helped an application to the Future Leaders - African Independent Research (FLAIR) Fellowship (result TBC). |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Heliatek GmbH |
| Organisation | Heliatek GmbH |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Discussions about the photophysics of organic solar cells |
| Collaborator Contribution | Discussions about the industrial relevance & direction of research |
| Impact | in preparation |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | ICCAS |
| Organisation | Chinese Academy of Sciences |
| Department | Institute of Chemistry |
| Country | China |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Fellowship in the President's International Fellowship Initiative of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, visiting ICCAS for three months in 2018/2019. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Material development by ICCAS, device development by us |
| Impact | first materials exchanged |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Link with ANSDAC Newton Funded Project |
| Organisation | University of Cape Town |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | ANSDAC has a focus of data analysis for synchrotrn related research while START focuses more on the experiments. ANSDAC has run training workshops and START has now agreed to fund the final workshop in 2020 rather tha run its own to avoid duplication of effort. The ANSDAC model has worked well so START will adopt the same approach but slightly broaden the techniques covered. |
| Collaborator Contribution | They will organise and run the workshop withtheir existing contacts whil START will supplement this and fund the workshop. |
| Impact | Workshop to run in June/July 2020 |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | University of Oxford/ GCRF internal funding Project - A Foundry for Research into emerging Photovoltaic Materials |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Department of Physics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Diamond PI on START (Chris Nicklin) is very interested to include access to the facility in Oxford for sample production into a follow-on proposal from START, as it will enable a rapid development of the research groups in Africa who do not have access to these facilities. Chris's involvement in the Project with University of Oxford is his ongoing commitment to the START project as PI, and to provide knowledge expertise through maintaining relationships with the Current START team and also developing new networking opportunities such as the Kenyan Partners involved in this project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | While START has the focus on capacity building for synchrotron techniques, this project is complementary, enabling African colleagues to design and obtain samples they previously could not and subsequently characterise them at Diamond and at home, leading to many synergies. This project builds on the ongoing START project which is lead by Diamond PI (Chris Nicklin), and complements it with sample fabrication capabilities that are not (yet) available on the African continent and works with South Africa (Upper Middle Income Country), Kenya and Egypt (Lower Middle Income Countries), Lesotho (Least Developed Country). START ends in March 2021 and the current team are planning to apply to UKRI for a new GCRF-funded project, building on our results and collaborations, including the involvement of new collaborators like the Kenyan partners involved in the new Oxford Project. START via the University of Oxford budget already provides contributions for consumables (e.g. samples, materials), but this additional £39,112.32 of funding will help to purchase additional Consumables, ship samples and cover 39 user days at 'National Thin-film Cluster Facility for Advanced Functional Materials', which is run as a small Research Facility (SRF), this costs covers the technician who processes the samples and wear & tear parts |
| Impact | Chris please can you complete this section? |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Title | Group Code on Github |
| Description | Code, procedures and designs available online, this webpage is continuously updated and as such the outcome date is always moved to the most recent year. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | research and open science community |
| URL | https://github.com/orgs/AFMD/dashboard |
| Description | 1st Biophysics and Structural Biology at Synchrotrons Workshop held at University of Cape |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I deliverd a lecture about Cryo-electron Microscopy |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://synchrotron.org.za/wiki/ |
| Description | 2021 - CCP4 Crystallographic School in South Africa: Data Collection to Structure Refinement and Beyond |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This is the First CCP4 Crystallographic School in South Africa - Data Collection to Structure Refinement and Beyond, at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. This workshop is organized jointly by Trevor Sewell (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Carmien Tolmie (University of the Free State, South Africa), Gwyndaf Evans (Diamond Light Source, UK), and Ronan Keegan (CCP4, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK), with the help of Ruslan Sanishvili (USA). Participants learnt how to analyse crystallography data using CCP4 helping to appreciate the differences between cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography and scenarios where one technique may be more suitable than the other. Some participants also had one-on-one sessions with Tristan Croll who is the developer of ISOLDE. He demonstrated the use of the software and gave valuable advice for model-building into cryo-EM data. This networking opportunity allowed participants to make contact with Tristan at a later date during model building. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://biophysicsworkshop.co.za |
| Description | 2021 African Neutron and Synchrotron Data Analysis Competency (ANSDAC.com) workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | After one year of hiatus, ANSDAC (www.ANSDAC.com) is back in a virtual format!! In three afternoon blocks (5-8, 12-16 and 26-28 July) local and international experts from industry and academia will discuss and present basics in X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption and neutron diffraction & spectroscopy. Attendees will be able to directly engage with different software packages, both commercial and freeware, and time is allocated to small group tutorials. Preference was given to young faculty researchers who can demonstrate their willingness to act as 'super spreader' in their home institutions after the workshop |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://ansdac.com |
| Description | 27th Congress of the South African Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (23-26 January 2022) - Dr Lizelle Lubbe |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Lizelle Lubbe presented a talk entitled: "Insight into somatic angiotensin-I converting enzyme structure and dynamics revealed by cryo-electron microscopy". There was interest in her work from her fellow postdocs and also from postgraduate students who asked for her guidance with some of their experiments, based on her experience presented during the talk. She also received suggestions for future experiments. During the general meeting of the society during this congress, Lizelle learned about the IUBMB (https://iubmb.org/) and she has since signed up to become a member of their newly established Trainee Initiative, geared towards making Biochemistry more accessible to all. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://sasbmb2022.org.za |
| Description | 47th Lorne Conference on Protein Structure and Function (6-10 February 2022) - Dr Lizelle Lubbe |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Lizelle Lubbe presented a talk entitled: "Insight into somatic angiotensin-1 converting enzyme structure and dynamics revealed by cryo-EM". She was the only speaker from Africa and thereby represented the country at this world-class international conference. She received valuable feedback on her work and networked with international researchers in the protein structure/function field. This was very important as it could provide career opportunities for Lizelle. She was also exposed to a very diverse range of research topics which intrigued her and changed her opinion of certain subject areas. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.lorneproteins.org |
| Description | 5th European School for Crystallography (Wolf-Dieter Schubert) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 5th European School for Crystallography at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa Date: Wednesday, 11 July 2018 Time: 9:00 - 10:30 Title: Protein production, purification and crystallization Time: 11:00 - 12:30 Title: Practical protein crystallization Date: Friday, 13 July 2018 Time: 16:00 - 17:00 Title: Structure refinement, quality control and analysis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www0.sun.ac.za/ecs5/ |
| Description | 6 weeks research visit to Oxford University for (Wits PDRA Dr Otieno) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | British council Newton Researcher Links Travel Grants Awarded a research grant for 6 weeks research visit to Oxford University for PDRA, PDRA is fully funded by GCRF START |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Africa-Europe Symposium on Research Infrastructures February 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Fostering Research infrastructures (RIs) partnerships across borders has the potential to improve the efficiency and quality of research to tackle the many challenges faced by society today. The virtual two-day symposium brings together delegates from African and European Research Infrastructures (RIs), science policy organisations and research institutions to discuss opportunities and challenges for RI cooperation's between Africa and Europe. We hope to raise awareness of individual RIs, to identify measures to mitigate current challenges of bioregional cooperation's between RIs, to initiate new and strengthening existing collaborations, and to initiate networks in a sustainable way so that all stakeholders benefit. START Investigator Trevor Sewell presented about START at this event |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://whova.com/portal/registration/rivis_202011/ |
| Description | African Synchrotron Network for Advanced Energy Materials (ASNAEM) meeting - 10th July 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A series of talks |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://asnaem.org/ |
| Description | African Union - European Union Workshop - Exhibition of Energy Storage Programmes at the University of Limpopo - June 2019 (Phuti Ngoepe Group) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Took part in an exhigition outlining the START funded activities to a meeting of the African Union and European Union |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Al2O3-supported Co3O4 nano-catalysts for the preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO-PrOx): A synchrotron-based in situ XAS study (Dr Thulani Nyathi) Cape Town |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This was a 15-minute talk presented at the 3rd African Light Source conference, delegates attended the conference. Dr Thulani Nyathi talk sparked questions on how to apply for beamtime at the UK synchrotron facility, and the unique reaction cell that was used for the experiments performed at the DLS (on beamline B18), i.e., the Modified Harrick XAS-DRIFTS cell |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://events.saip.org.za/event/170/sessions/436/#20211116 |
| Description | Artist in Residence (PDRA Pascal Kaienburg - Uni of Oxford) 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Exchange between Artist and various Science labs, including Oxfords. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Attendance at CCP4 workshop in Brazil (Carmien Tolmie) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Attended a CCP4 workshop for training in processing of macromolecular crystallography data - workshop held in Sao Carlos, Brazil (November 2018) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Biophysics and Structural Biology at Synchrotrns Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | A workshop on the potential of structural biology for life scientists in South Africa, Included background and remote data collection for a number of postgraduate students and investigators. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Biophysics and Structural Biology at Synchrotrons workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was aimed at introducing young, mostly African, bioscience researchers to the power of synchrotron based facilities. It had as its focus, the structure determination and other biophysical resources required for vaccine design, drug discovery, industrial enzymology and agrochemicals. The course traced the technology required to go from gene to the structure of proteins, as well as synchrotron based techniques for imaging cells. Topics covered included advanced strategies for crystallization, high-throughput data collection by X-ray diffraction, single particle cryo-EM, structure refinement, X-ray tomography, circular dichroism and spectroscopy. Students learned how to access synchrotron based resources and gained practical experience of working with proteins, data collection, data processing, structure interpretation and complex experimental strategies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://biophysicsworkshop.co.za |
| Description | Carmien Tolmie attended the CCP4/MX2018 Macromolecular Crystallography School at the Institute for Physics, Sao Carlos University, Sao Carlos, Brazil from 14-24 November 2018. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Ms Tolmie (University of the Free State) presented a poster at this workshop entitled: Structure and function of Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenases from Aspergillus flavus. The other institutions that were involved are the Institute of Physics of the University of Sao Carlos, as well as the CCP4 developers. The crystallographic school served to better the crystallographic knowledge of the three participants, to enable them to better process their crystallographic data. Miss Tolmie will register as a START PDRA and will use the skills she obtained at the workshop to improve the processing of the crystallographic data collected during her post-doc. She will work on monooxygenases from bacterial and fungal sources as drug targets. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.ifsc.usp.br/mx2018 |
| Description | Chemistry World Article 'The labs pointing to a greener future for Africa' by MUNYARADZI MAKONI |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Munyaradzi Makoni is a well-known African freelance science journalist and was commission to write an article for a Chemistry World special issue on climate/sustainability to tie in with the UK hosting COP26. The article features some GCRF START Structural Biology and Energy Materials case studies (along with examples from other organisations). 'Tackling climate is not just a job for scientists in more developed countries. Munyaradzi Makoni talks to researchers in Kenya and South Africa to find out more'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/the-labs-pointing-to-a-greener-future-for-africa/4014742.art... |
| Description | Computer simulation and phase diagram prediction of Li2S - Annual National Meeting of the Centre for High Perfomance Computing 2018 (Phuti Ngoepe Group) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of START funded catalysis work done using theoretical mothods at the main South African meeting for high performance computing |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Dr Thulani Nyathi - presentation at the 3rd African Light Source conference Nov 2021, titled: Al2O3-supported Co3O4 nano-catalysts for the preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide: A synchrotron-based in situ XAS study |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Thulani Nyathi, a Junior Research Fellow at the University Cape Town was part of the GCRF START Programme working with Co-Investigator Prof. Michael Claeys. Dr Nyathi gave a presentation on work which was carried out at Diamond Light Source Ltd (Diamond) during the course of the GCRF START project, collaborating with researchers from the UK, such as Emma Gibson, Peter Wells and Sir Richard Catlow. Along with SA team Nico Fischer, Michael Claeys and Andrew York from Johnson Matthey. Presentation materials can be found in the link below. Presentations discussed Cobalt(II, III) oxide (Co3O4) which is a promising catalyst for the preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO-PrOx) in hydrogen-rich gases, however, Co3O4 suffers from bulk reduction at elevated temperatures (> 200 °C), resulting in the formation of metallic Co (Co0). The formation of Co0 changes the conversion pathway of CO from oxidation to hydrogenation, forming methane (CH4) instead of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is an undesired outcome. The team attempted to stabilise Co3O4 nanoparticles on an alumina (Al2O3) support using two different anchoring methods, which resulted in two Al2O3-supported Co3O4 catalysts, i.e., CAT 1 and CAT 2, where the strength of the Co3O4-Al2O3 interaction was different between the two prepared catalysts. The phase stability of the catalysts was monitored in situ, i.e., during a CO-PrOx reaction, using synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at Diamond UK (session number: SP16006-1). This was later consolidated with kinetic data obtained via gas chromatography at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://events.saip.org.za/event/170/contributions/7643/ |
| Description | Effect of Potassium loading on nickel ferrite methanation activity during the preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO-PrOx) (Dr Mohamed Fadlalla) Cape Town |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Dr Mohamed Fadlalla gave a a 20 min conference presentation at the XVth international symposium on environment, catalysis and process engineering. Moroccan association of catalysis and environment. The talk generated great interest in the utilization of potassium as a promoter to suppress/prevent methane formation during the preferential oxidation of carbon oxide in hydrogen rich environment. This finding take us one step closer to the design of an effective catalyst for CO-PrOx, and ultimatly over-comming the challange of purifying hydrogen-which is used as an energy source. Audience also showed great interest in the in situ XRD cell that was used during this study. There were requests for collaborations and access to the in situ XRD cell. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://ecgpmorocco.com/pdfs/ECGP_2021-Program |
| Description | Energy Materials Case Study 1 - START: Inspiring collaboration and the next generation of scientists |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Sikhumbuzo Masina is an energy materials PhD student at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, who is working on Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) electrolytes to provide cost effective and environmentally sensitive alternative energy solutions for Africa and beyond. He inspires others and is involved in outreach through the 'Whizz Bang' group at Wits University and through this brings attention to the opportunities provided by START. Through outreach events and school visits, the group demonstrates a variety of chemical experiments and use the START banners in their displays to raise awareness about the important influence of synchrotron techniques on African research, especially in terms of energy materials. START exerts its influence beyond the students and scientists that it directly funds, inspiring the next cohort of PhD and Postdoctoral students, developing their knowledge and skills, and enabling collaboration that can last a lifetime. Through outreach events and school visits, the group has been able to raise awareness about the important influence of synchrotron techniques on African research, especially in terms of energy materials to possibly the next generation of young scientists. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Energy Materials Case Study 2 - Fast oxide ion conductors for solid oxide fuel cells: average and local structure-property correlations in solid solutions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The research is looking at the effect of temperature on the stability, conductivity, thermal expansion and related properties of the materials used in SOFCs. The focus is specifically on studying the effects of impurity cations on the average and local structure of Bi2O3, a potential SOFCs electrolyte .This involves adding foreign (impurity) atoms into a material and observing the effect of these atoms on the arrangement of the host atoms and correlating this with the change in physical properties like electric conductivity, as well as thermal expansion and stability. The group is studying both the average and local structure (repeat pattern over long distances and local atomic arrangements respectively) of the solid solutions of Bi2O3 which will help elucidate what entails a best fast oxide ion conductor. This will, in turn, help in the design pf solid electrolytes that will enable solid oxide fuel cells to operate at intermediate temperatures (500-800°C) and reduce their capital cost - a current stumbling block to their commercialisation. Solid Oxide Fuel Cells are very efficient devices to generate energy, achieving efficiencies of close to 80% depending on the power generation mode. They can be used off-grid which is vital in countries that experience daily power cuts (rolling blackouts or 'load shedding') especially in rural areas where access to electricity can be scarce, or even non-existent. The aim, is to design and study the behaviour of materials used in the fuel cells 'in-situ', as they operate at various temperatures, in a quest to identify combinations that are sufficiently stable to allow for further development and ultimately commercialisation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Energy Materials Case Study 3 - Investigating energy materials for efficient and cost effective conversion of sunlight into electricity |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Originally from Kenya, Dr Daniel Wamwangi's research on energy materials focuses on energy conversion with the aim of converting sunlight into electricity in the most efficient and cost effective way. The crux of Professor Wamwangi's study is where cost-effective materials such as Organic materials (organic polymer based solar cell) and Inorganic materials (halide perovskites - a hybrid between inorganic and organic materials, which can be solution-based), and control of solar energy in materials (supplementary light management schemes) are investigated and developed. GCRF_START provides the opportunity to probe the type of microstructure of the materials under study to elucidate the electron (negative charge) and hole transport (positive) charge within the network using sophisticated synchrotron techniques known as GIWAXS and GISAXS. Using the facilities available at Diamond through START, as well as expertise within the START family, they can correlate the microstructure with the production of current (photocurrent) and also with the absorption of light on a dynamic basis. The ultimate aim of the research is to contribute to finding ways of converting sunlight into electricity in the most efficient and cost effective way. The availability of alternative energy at increased efficiencies with lower costs and improved environmental footprints has domino effects on the social economic landscape. Benefits such as pumped water supply and purification through local solar power generators, solar based lamps and solar powered electronic devices such as cell phones could radically improve the living standards of populations in rural areas across Africa. START also provides a collaborative and 'upskilling' forum for scientists in Africa working in this field of Energy Materials. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Energy Materials Case Study 5 - Catalysis for the Climate Change Challenge: Iron-based alloys as catalysts for CO2 Hydrogenation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Intelligent design of catalytic material for the conversion of starting materials to key products, with high activity and selectivity, is of great academic and industrial importance. To establish the catalyst structure correlation with activity and selectivity, fundamental understanding of the catalytic material is needed and how it performs under 'in situ' conditions. By understanding the materials, the catalysts we prepare will actually help us to have a more intelligent approach to catalyst design which will provide a lot of advantages.In this project the direct and indirect hydrogenation routes of CO2 are being investigated. The latter makes use of a synthesis gas (CO + H2) which can be derived via the so-called reverse water gas shift reaction, which is then converted using the Fischer-Tropsch reaction. The aim of the research is to close the cycle of CO2 using hydrogen from renewable energies to produce fuels that could be used in transportation or energy generation, which would itself produce CO2 that we could actually convert to fuels. These fuels, often referred to as 'e-fuels' or 'power fuels', may play an important role in future defossilisation, particularly in the aviation industry where high density fuels are required. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Energy Materials START workshop at the University of Cape Town (16-17 Dec 2019) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Workshop/ talks from project Principal investigator, Co-investigators, PDRA's and Students from both South Africa and various areas of the UK. The workshop was a great platform to build connections with START and to form future collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Enzymology in action: Picking apart a new weapon in the epic immune battle between neutrophils and Staphylococcus aureus - Erick Strauss from Stellenbosch University at Diamond Light Source |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Erick Strauss visited Diamond Light Source to present some ofthe advances from his lab in antimicrobial drug development, as well as the wider successes of Life Science in the START program across Africa. The audience consisted of scientists, collaborators, and staff from across the Harwell Campus and nearby univerisites. Further discussions continued after about he future developments of the projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | First cryo-EM structures of angiotensin-converting enzyme pave the way for better drugs to treat heart disease - July 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The first full-length structures of the human angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) have been determined by researchers from the University of Cape Town (UCT) using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). ACE is a blood pressure-regulating protein that is critical for heart health. Published in The EMBO Journal on July 12, 2022, the cryo-EM structures of ACE in two different conformations have the potential to improve drug design for cardiovascular disease-the leading cause of death worldwide. Dr. Lizelle Lubbe, Dr. Jeremy Woodward, Professor Ed Sturrock, and Professor Trevor Sewell performed the study. The ACE protein was produced in UCT's Sturrock Laboratory and prepared for high-resolution imaging at UCT's Electron Microscope Unit (EMU). It was transported to the electron Bio-Imaging Center (eBIC) at the U.K.'s national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source (Diamond) for high-resolution imaging. Image processing took place at South Africa's CSIR Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC) and the EMU. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://phys.org/news/2022-07-cryo-em-angiotensin-converting-enzyme-pave-drugs.html |
| Description | GCRF Case Study - START Project aims to inspire more African female students to study and work in science (Feb 2022) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The 'ST/R002754/1 START: Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology' research project was highlighted by UKRI STFC colleagues as having shown potential impact and have chosen to show this in the form of a case study for the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). The UKRI International Development team leads the development and delivery of the Global Challenges Research and Newton Funds and coordinates and oversees GCRF/Newton activities conducted across UKRI. The team has considerable interaction across UKRI, BEIS, FCDO and other government departments. As such and with colleagues across UKRI, they are creating a library of GCRF impact case studies that can be showcased on the UKRI website, be included in GCRF leaflets, be used as impact exemplars at national and international GCRF events for instance. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | GCRF-START Early Career Scientists Meeting - 1st session (introduction) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An opportunity for Early Career Scientists to meet and introduce themselves to one another and discuss their research, share knowledge and experiences |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | GCRF-START Early Career Scientists Meeting - 2nd session (Lorraine Bobb - START Talk - How a Synchrotron Works) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lorraine Bobb, Head of the Beam Diagnostics Group at Diamond will share her knowledge about how the accelerator at Diamond works, to produce the bright beams of x-rays that we all rely on. We will then show you how to do a virtual tour of Diamond, allowing you to explore the facility wherever you are in the world. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | GCRF-START kick-off meeting September 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was the first collective meeting for all START co-investigators and their Post-Doctoral assistants and some PhD students. The event was useful in introducing the management of START, setting the scene for the research in both directions - structural biology and energy materials. Having researchers present from Africa and the UK opened opportunities for discussion and the beginnings of new collaborations were built on which are set to continue through the life of the START project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Honours Open Day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Outreach to promote Structural Biology and encourage undergraduate students to consider studying it at honours level. A record number of students appliedand were accepted for the BMedSc(Hons) programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019,2020 |
| URL | http://www.health.uct.ac.za/event/honours-open-day |
| Description | Indaba 9 talk by Wolf-Dieter Schubert |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Indaba 9 (Conference by the South African Crystallographic Society) Place: Skukuza Camp, Kruger Park, South Africa Date: 4 September 2018 Title: Interdomain Interactions within a Multimodular Xylanase Xyl. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1991800 |
| Description | Instruct Eric/ START - Furthering Structural Biology in Africa webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Instruct-ERIC is the European Research Infrastructure for Structural Biology, providing training and access to high-end structural biology facilities through our centres of excellence. This event was organised together with the GCRF START project and aimed to further the relationship between Instruct-ERIC and structural biologists and other life scientists in South Africa. Ed Sturrock, one of our GCRF START investigators gave a talk entitled: "The development of novel ACE inhibitors for the treatment of hypertension and heart failure." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://instruct-eric.eu/events/ |
| Description | Instruct virtual course on Single Particle Analysis by Cryo-EM (2nd edition) (28 June - 2 July 2021) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | START PDRA participants attended the Instruct image processing course and gained valuable insight into cryo-EM data collection and also received training in the use of Scipion for image analysis. Participants also established contact with Carlos Oscar Sorzano from the Instruct Image Processing Center in Spain who assisted with cryo-EM data analysis by providing his expert opinion of the 3D conformational variability and how this data could be interpreted. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://i2pc.es/instruct-virtual-course-on-single-particle-analysis-by-cryoem-madrid-april-18-20-2022... |
| Description | Lecture at the 5th European Crystallographic School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I deliverd a lecture about Cryo-electron Microscopy focussing on the importance of regional and access to international research infrastructure |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www0.sun.ac.za/ecs5/ |
| Description | MSSA preconference Cryo-EM workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 17 postgraduate students, postdoctoral research fellows and technical staff attended the workshop aimed at introducting the participants to the cryo-EM pipeline. The participants attended lectures, a computer-based processing tutorial and attended hands-on practical sessions where they prepared and imaged cryo-EM samples. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.mssaconference.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/MSSA_Workshop2019_.pdf |
| Description | MX User Training |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | X-ray crystallography data collection training workshop for members of the South African crystallography BAG (Diamond Block Allocation Grant) presented by beamline scientists from Diamond. Attended by START PDRAs and other members of START labs, including academic staff, postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Major GC Africa research grant for discovery of new antimicrobial agents |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Prof Erick Strauss, a specialist in chemical biology in the Department of Biochemistry in the Faculty of Science, has received a grant of R1.4 million over the next three years to explore a unique approach for the discovery of new antimicrobial agents. The grant was awarded under the auspices of the Grand Challenge Africa (GC Africa) programme. The aim of the programme is to promote Africa-led scientific innovations to help countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, by supporting "big, bold, impactful, innovative ideas that have a potential for impact, scale and sustainability" The team consists of Dr Blake Balcomb and Dr Anton Hamann, both postdoctoral fellows, and PhD-student Tim Kotze. Both Balcomb and Hamann were trained as crystallographers as part of the Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology (START) programme. This programme was funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) of the United Kingdom's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). "In fact, it was the expertise built up through the START programme, and the promising results we obtained in our studies, that really made it possible to lodge a competitive application to the GC Africa Drug Discovery call," Prof Strauss concludes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=8712 |
| Description | Member of council of Royal Society of South Afric - Ed Sturrock member of committee |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Member of council of Royal Society of South Africa and chaired the committee in that organised the Annual SA Schools Essay Competition, this reached a Wider South African scientific community and lay audience |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.royalsocietysa.org.za/?page_id=247 |
| Description | Newspaper Article: Three UCT biochemistry researchers able to make new enzymes |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Newpaper article about Cape Town - Three UCT researchers have made a breakthrough in biochemistry with their discovery of an enzyme, at close to atomic resolution, which may assist with manufacturing better medicines or even cleaning up pollution. Jeremy Woodward, Andani Mulelu and Angela Kirykowicz studied the structure of a group of enzymes called nitrilases, which carries a range of biotechnological potential. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/three-uct-biochemistry-researchers-able-to-make-new-enzymes-440... |
| Description | Nickel-gallium phases dependence in carbon dioxode hydrogenation - Catalysis Society of South Africa (Michael Claeys Group) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at the National Catalysis conference on work supported by the START programme |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Open Research Day (Michael Claeys Group) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Discuss possibilities for postgraduate research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Organic Solar Cells Networking events (Moritz Riede Group) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | PDRA from the group gave poster at F-pi14 conference in Berlin and a talk at a China-UK conference in Swansea. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Pan-African Crystallography Conference (PCCr2) and second African Light Source Conference (AfLS2) talks by Wiolf-Dieter Schubert |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Joint Meeting of the second Pan-African Crystallography Conference (PCCr2) and second African Light Source Conference (AfLS2) Place: University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana Pre-Conference Training Workshop on Structural Biology, a tool for sustainable development in Africa, BioStruct-Africa Date: 28 January 2019 Title: Protein production, purifcation and crystallization Time: 11:00 - 12:00 Audience: Postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty from various African countries. Audience size: 30 PCCr2 Date: Tuesday, 29 January 2019 Time: 11:20 - 11:40 Title: Virulence Factors of Listeria monocytogenes Audience: Structural Biologists (postgraduate, postdoctoral, faculty) from various African countries, Europe and South America. Audience size: 50 AfLS2 Time: 15:40 - 16:00 Title: Bioscience Highlights from South Africa Audience: Physicists, Material Scientists, Paleontologists mainly from African countries with some representation from European, Asian and South American countries. Audience size: 50 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1991800 |
| Description | Poster Presentation - Computational Methods for Catalysis (Richard Catlow Group) - Solid State Chemistry Group Meeting (London, Dec 2018) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Poster on the results obtained to undertsand the process of CO2 hydrogenation to methanol using different catalysts |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Poster Presentation - Computational Methods for Catalysis (Richard Catlow Group) - UK Catalysis Conference (Looughborough, Jan 2019) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Work on catalysts used for hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Poster Presentation - Computational Methods for Catalysis (Richard Catlow Group) - UK Catalysis Hub Phase 2 Launch Event (London, Feb 2019) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster on computational methods used in Catalysis |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Poster Presentation - Computational Methods for Catalysis (Richard Catlow Group) - UK Catalysis Hub Spring Conference (Harwell, May 2019) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Computational methods (DFT) used in catalysis |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Poster presentation by University of Cape Town - Edward Sturrock: at the Gordon Research Conference, Proteolytic Enzymes and their Inhibitors, Ill Ciocco, Italy, June 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Gordon Conference - International protease and protease inhibitor communities - a forum for discussion of new findings in the developments relating to the role of proteolytic enzymes and inhibitors in health and disease. It provided opportunities for early career scientists to meet established scientists in the area. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.grc.org/proteolytic-enzymes-and-their-inhibitors-conference/2018/ |
| Description | Presentation by University of Cape Town - Edward Sturrock: South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Potchefstroom, South Africa, July 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SASBMB) conference - South African biochemistry and structural biology communities - Reaching the wider South African scientific community and lay audience |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://sasbmb.org.za/congress-2016/ |
| Description | Presentation on malaria drug discovery (Lauran Arendse) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lauren Arendse is a postdoctoral candidate working under a START co-investigator she presented on current research and future plans related to structure-based malaria drug discovery at the Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D) Scientific Management Advisory Board meeting, University of Cape Town, November 2018. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Presentation to Kings School West Rand, Johannesburg |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Group seminar by scientists in the HIV Virology laboratory given to high school scholars from Kings School West Rand, Johannesburg Scientists from the NICD's Centre for HIV and STIs, HIV Virology Section, gave an interactive webinar to Grade 11 and grade 12 students from the Kings School West Rand. The webinar was organised by Dr Cathrine Scheepers and Nicolene Liebenberg (KSWR Biology Teacher). During the webinar, postdoctoral fellows Dr Dale Kitchin, Dr Thandeka Moyo and Dr Simone Richardson and two MSc students Alaine Marsden and Holly Spencer gave short talks followed by a question and answer session surrounding HIV, Coronavirus and vaccine research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=EkzDYMqX_TA&%3Bfeature=youtu.be |
| Description | Presentation, Stellenbosch (Lauren Arendse) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lauren Arendse is a postdoc under a START co-investigator. She presented talk entitled "Dual ACE C-domain and neprilysin inhibitors for the treatment of hypertension & cardiovascular disease" at the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System Satellite Meeting 2018, 28 - 30 November, Stellenbosch 2018. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.hypertension.org.za/events/2018/raas-satelite-meeting-28-30-november-2018 |
| Description | Quest Magazine Volume 17 No 4 2021 ISSN 1729-830X - From Kenyan villager to international researcher (Francis Otieno) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Francis Otieno one of the GCRF START PDRA's talks about his journey from Kenyan villager to international researcher with the support and encouragement of his father, Francis talks about how he has been able to realise his father dream of his son returning home one day with a title earned from studying and where Francis could become a teacher to others contribute to society. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://questonline.org.za/ |
| Description | SA-BioImaging Symposium STIAS |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I delivered a lecture about Cryo-electron Microscopy focussing on the importance of regional and access to international research infrastructure. A fruitful discussion arose with a representative of the South African the National Research Foundation about funding access to cryo-EM infrastructure for South African researchers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | START Bioscience Check-in Theme -" How did lockdown affect my experience as a START contributor - what I managed to accomplish" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | To discuss what science is still being accomplished even with Lockdown: Jeremy Woodward UCT - Shotgun EM of mycobacterial protein complexes, Dirk Opperman and Carmien Tolmie, UFS - Structural Biology in Middle Earth, Anton Hamman, US - Using chemical stress to boost the yield of a soluble recombinant protein, SaDPCK, and updates on the crystal structures of SaPanK, Thandeka Moyo, NICD - HIV and SARS-CoV-2 infection: understanding antibodies for prevention, Lizelle Lubbe, UCT - Unlocking an ACE structure under lockdown, Wolf-Dieter Schubert, UP - Pandemic protein progress in Pretoria, Ramesh Pandian and Ikechukwu Achilonu, Wits - Success stories with Schistosoma japonicum GST and HIV protease |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | START formal Launch Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Formal Launch event for the grant will all reserach groups represented - also had VIP visit for Felix Dakora (President of African Association for Advancement of Science) and Simon Connel (Chair of the African Light Source Project). Publicity included two radio interviews (BBC Oxford and Jack FM), a website article and an article in synchrotron radiation news. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 1 - New insights into the structure and inner workings of nitrilase enzymes for drug design and manufacturing in Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | According to the UN, Africa has the worst burden of life-threatening communicable diseases in the world. In 2015, there were 1.6 million deaths on the continent from a combination of preventable and treatable diseases such as Malaria, HIV and Tuberculosis*, a key contributing factor for which was the lack of access to medicines - only 2% of the medicines used in Africa are manufactured in Africa, which has implications for the cost and accessibility of treatment Through the GCRF START Programme, a team of scientists from the University of Cape Town have been investigating novel options to improve access to medicines, reduce drug side effects, and develop 'green' medical biotechnologies. With START-funded access to the UK's world-class Diamond Light Source synchrotron, Dr Woodward, Dr Mulelu and Angela Kirykowicz were able to visualise the structure of an intact helical filament at close-to-atomic resolution for the first time - the first high resolution visualisation of a Cryo-EM6 protein structure ever to be produced in Africa! This has enabled them to gain new insights into the structure and inner workings of nitrilase enzymes which are attractive biocatalysts for use in the manufacture of drugs for major life-threatening communicable diseases. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/04/09/the-start-of-great-things/ |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 10 - Investigating energy materials for efficient conversion of sunlight into electricity |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The rising global demand for energy and the depletion of fossil-based fuels has increased research focus on new materials for efficient localised energy generation, particularly in remote areas with a scarcity of electricity. Globally, 3 billion people cook using polluting open fires or simple stoves fuelled by kerosene, biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste) and coal, with deaths from associated pollution and other causes estimated at 3.8 million people annually. Of the nearly 1 billion people functioning without electricity globally, 50% are found in Sub-Saharan Africa alone (UN, 2019). Here, finding localised energy solutions is welcome, especially in homes, schools and clinics located in rural areas far from the existing electricity supply or grid. The conversion of sunlight into electricity is popularly known as photovoltaics and the devices that enable the conversion are known as Solar Cells. Currently Silicon (Si) is the main energy material used for Solar Cells but the costs of processing this energy material are increasingly prohibitive, so alternative materials and technologies are crucial to replace Si if the widespread adoption of Solar Energy is to be a sustainable, environmentally friendly and viable. Dr Wamwangi focuses on energy solutions which could revolutionise the energy scene in Africa. These include Energy Conversion in which cost-effective materials such as Organic materials (organic polymer based solar cells) and Inorganic materials (halide perovskites -a hybrid between inorganic and organic materials, which can be solution-based), and control of Solar Energy in materials (Supplementary Light Management schemes) are investigated and developed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/05/28/investigating-energy-materials-for-efficient-and-cost-effective... |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 11 - Focus on fungal oxidoreductases for disease drug targets - Carmien Tolmie & Dirk Opperman |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Currently, there are three classes of anti-fungal drugs that are used to combat infectious fungal disease but there is an increasing number of drug resistant (and even multi-drug resistant) fungi against these drugs meaning that these pathogenic fungi have become or are becoming resistant to the current medication used to treat patients. Fungal infectious diseases can be very serious, especially for immune-compromised patients, such as those who are HIV/AIDS positive, organ transplant receivers, patients undergoing chemotherapy, and many more. Fungal infections are often underreported and because of this the extent of the situation is not fully known. START Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr Carmien Tolmie and GCRF START CO-I, Prof. Dirk Opperman, from the University of the Free State (UFS) in South Africa study the structures of bacterial and fungal oxidoreductases (enzymes) which are possible drug targets to combat infectious disease. This involves examining the chemical processes that happen in the fungal cell in order to keep the cell alive, for which state-of-the-art techniques are required to screen and solve protein structures at very high resolutions. If no drugs are effective against invasive opportunistic fungi, the prognosis for immune-compromised patients is very poor, and many people will die. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/10/22/addressing-global-challenges-through-a-love-of-structural-biolo... |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 12 - START's impact on my research on human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 - Melissa Marx |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted viruses worldwide and the second most frequent cause of cancer among women in Africa and in South Africa. Although HPV vaccinations exist and are safe, these vaccines are only protective to HPV uninfected adolescents, making them ineffective for persons already infected with HPV. The vaccines are also relatively expensive and need repeat doses making them unaffordable for many people who also have difficulty accessing health care facilities. Rural communities in South Africa are largely unaware of HPV infection as a risk factor for cervical cancer, which has made vaccine distribution ineffective, with little of the South African population vaccinated between 2009 and 2014. Developing medication to prevent HPV infection by blocking the entry of HPV into susceptible human cells could be an alternative to vaccination, and another opportunity to reduce the amount of HPV associated cancers within South Africa and worldwide. Studies, some of which are made possible with the GCRF START grant, are being conducted into two human proteins to investigate whether there is potential to develop inhibitors for HPV infection of susceptible cells. For scientists like University of Cape Town (UCT) MSc. student, Melissa Marx, access to state-of-the-art imaging equipment, skills and synchrotron techniques are vital for this research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/10/15/what-gcrf-start-means-for-my-research-on-human-papillomavirus-h... |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 13 - Cultivating ACE research skills to tackle cardiovascular disease - Lizelle Lubbe |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 1.13 billion people suffer from hypertension globally, with many countries in Africa experiencing the highest prevalence of hypertension in the world at 27% (WHO, 2019). Conditions caused by hypertension include stroke, heart failure, heart attack, kidney failure and loss of vision. Given the important role of ACE in blood pressure regulation, ACE inhibitors (Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors) are commonly used in the clinic to effectively treat hypertension and heart/kidney disease. The use of ACE inhibitors can cause mild to life threatening side effects in some patients, however. For scientists in Africa to develop improved inhibitors to meet local needs, skills in structural biology and world class equipment are needed-all of which are scarce on the African continent. GCRF START-funded Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Dr Lizelle Lubbe, is exploring novel ways to improve the design ACE inhibitors using the UK's national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source (Diamond). Although at data analysis stage, she and collaborator Prof. K Ravi Acharya at the University of Bath, have already made promising discoveries. Without such opportunities, it would have been very difficult for Lizelle to afford to do this research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/10/06/cultivating-ace-research-skills-to-tackle-cardiovascular-diseas... |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 14 - Tackling AMR & ESKAPE pathogens through novel drug design with GCRF START - Ikechukwu Achilonu (Wits) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | AMR is described by the World Health Organization as "one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development todaycompromising our ability to treat infectious diseases, as well as undermining many other advances in health and medicine." The persistent use of antibiotics has provoked the emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) bacteria, which can make even the most effective drugs ineffective. These bacteria have built-in abilities to find new ways to become resistant and can pass on genetic materials which enable other bacteria to become drug resistant. This situation of Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR)2 is made worse by limited or non-existent infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes, combined with an inadequate water supply, poor sanitation, and a weak hygiene infrastructure in health facilities, which make the burden of Health Care Acquired Infection (HAI) several fold higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income ones. The six nosocomial ESKAPE3 pathogens that exhibit multidrug resistance and virulence feature on the World Health Organization's 'Priority Pathogens list', with estimates showing that a total of 24 million people could be forced into extreme poverty due to AMR by 2030, especially in low-income countries. Dr Ikechukwu Achilonu and his team at the PSFRU focus on rational design and discovery of new generation anthelminthic and anti-bacterial drug targets to tackle Nosocomial infections by ESKAPE pathogens that exhibit AMR. To design inhibitors to serve as potential drugs against these pathogens, high-resolution 3D protein structures are needed to test the ability of certain drugs to interact with and inhibit the properties of the proteins being studied. Druggable proteins are proteins that are key to the survival of the pathogen which enable it to replicate inside the human host, either intracellularly (inside the cell) or extracellularly (outside the cell). In the case of bacteria, for example, they need to manufacture their own energy and without the enzyme (protein) that makes this possible, the bacteria would not survive. Therefore, if scientists know the protein's DNA sequence, they should be able to predict that the protein can be synthesized and can then develop a druggable target. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/09/25/new-generation-solutions-to-neglected-tropical-diseases-and-nos... |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 15 - New generation solutions to Neglected Tropical Diseases - Ikechukwu Achilonu (Wits) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD's) are a diverse group of communicable diseases caused by a variety of pathogens prevalent in tropical and subtropical conditions, such as viruses, bacteria, protozoa and parasitic worms. More than a billion people in over 149 countries are impacted by NTD's with huge costs to developing economies annually of billions of US dollars. Populations living in poverty without adequate sanitation and in close contact with infested waters, along with domestic animals and livestock are those worst affected. In the case of schistosomiasis/Bilharzia - an acute and chronic disease caused by parasitic worms - it is estimated that at least 90% of those requiring treatment for the disease live in Africa. Dr Ikechukwu Achilonu and his colleagues focus on rational design and discovery of new generation anthelminthic and anti-bacterial drug targets to tackle NTD's like Schistosomiasis and Wuchereria (a human parasitic worm /Filariworm causing lymphatic filariasis4). Currently, only one drug, Praziquantel, is available to treat Schistosomiasis leaving people vulnerable to Schistosome resistance. Working on the Schistosoma GST enzyme - a protein involved in detoxification of foreign molecules in the Schistosome parasite critical to its survival - Dr Achionu aim to design inhibitors as potential drugs against these pathogens. For this, high-resolution 3D protein structures are needed to test the ability of certain drugs to interact with and inhibit the properties of the proteins being studied. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/09/25/new-generation-solutions-to-neglected-tropical-diseases-and-nos... |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 16 - In the spirit of Ubuntu: Addressing global challenges through community-led Sci-Art - GCRF START's Sci-Art collaboration with the Keiskamma Trust |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | There are unique challenges to developing sustainable energy in Africa, not least the large fraction of off-grid consumers, the degradation of energy devices in an environment of heat and dust, and the high initial capital costs for traditional installations of energy production or storage systems. Similarly challenging is addressing the health needs on the African continent, where diseases like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Malaria and now Covid19 negatively affect whole societies. Inadequate disease prevention and treatment, and the prohibitive cost and supply of these, growing drug resistance as well as distances to treatment centres, are just some of the challenges, particularly in remote, rural areas. This coupled with food insecurity, drought, contaminated water and soils, pollution from fossil fuels and other human activity provide, pose huge economic and social burdens. One example is in South Africa's Eastern Cape, where The Keiskamma Trust is a small Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) dedicated to addressing HIV/AIDS and poverty holistically through health, art, music and education initiatives. With unemployment levels in the region's rural areas up to 90%, and water shortages, poor nutrition, lack of electricity, and diseases like HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes highly prevalent, hardship is an everyday experience for the remote communities the Keiskamma Trust serves, including the crafters and artists who are part of the Keiskamma Art Project. Engaging in effective outreach and dialogue with these communities about their needs, perspectives and potential solutions is vital. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | http://www.keiskamma.org/ |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 17 - Investigating lithium-ion battery cathode materials for new generation improvements in sustainable energy solutions - Michelle Nyoni, Michelle Thiebaut, Caren Billing and Dave Billing (Wits) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lack of access to clean, reliable, affordable and safe fuels and energy storage technologies is an everyday reality in many rural communities across Africa. Problems like widespread load shedding (electricity cuts) and lack of access to off the grid, renewable alternatives means households are still using wood or charcoal and lighting in the form of paraffin or candles as a result of energy poverty. Countries such as Zimbabwe and South Africa are blessed with abundant renewable sources of energy - wind and solar - yet hindered by the challenge of how to store this energy effectively. Lithium-ion batteries are used around the world from everyday portable electronics to small power grids and are widely seen as one of the solutions to the energy storage challenge. However, the most widely used rechargeable batteries contain toxic electrolytes such as sulfuric acid in lead acid batteries and lithium perchlorate in lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. The drawbacks of current Li-ion batteries are, amongst others, their costs and reliability concerns, which are attributed to the deterioration of battery devices over relatively short periods of time. The constant replacement of these materials has a negative impact on the environment. South Africa is one of the biggest vanadium producers in the world and Zimbabwe is one of the biggest lithium producers in the world - materials used in energy storage solutions like Lithium-ion batteries. Scientists in the Energy Materials Research Group (EMRG) at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa, study the materials needed to improve the performance, safety, affordability and environmental footprint of lithium-ion batteries for renewable energy storage. Various lithium metal ion phosphate materials are studied with the idea of using locally mined earth abundant metal ions of benefit for cost effective production and materials to support local economies. If energy storage solutions are not addressed, then existing socio-economic and environmental challenges will deepen and expand, with many communities and economies left behind the rest of the world. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020,2021 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/11/20/taking-energy-materials-to-the-next-level/ |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 18 - Gugulethu Nkala's story and outreach to girls and women in science (Wits) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Globally UNESCO* figures show only 30% of researchers are female and they occupy only 20% of STEM leadership positions. These figures are even lower in many countries in Africa and especially in subjects which have traditionally been seen to be the realm of men such as energy materials. Empowering girls and women to enter STEM fields of study and careers, and stay the course, requires holistic measures, reports UNESCO, including raising awareness of the importance of STEM education for girls and women, improving the participation, achievement and continuation of women and girls in STEM, and strengthening the capacity of countries to deliver gender-responsive STEM education, research and job opportunities. *https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000253479_eng Gugulethu (Gugu) Charmaine Nkala is a PhD student at the School of Chemistry in the Energy Materials Research Group (EMRU) at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa. The first in her family to go to university, her aim is to be a role model to motivate women and girls to take up science. Gugu's research focuses on improving renewable energy storage systems to make them more efficient, affordable, safe and environmentally friendly. In order to bring renewable energy sources into the energy mix, the focus of scientific research needs to be moved towards improving renewable storage systems such as batteries. Her motivation comes from the desire to find solutions to energy challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, starting in South Africa where a large population, especially in the rural areas, is still without access to basic commodities such as electricity, sanitation and health care, something that particularly impacts women. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2021/01/26/breaking-barriers-and-aiming-high-an-african-woman-in-energy-ma... |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 2 - New insights into the structure and inner workings of nitrilase enzymes for food security in Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The UN calls for a profound change in agriculture systems and the way food is produced in order to nourish the 821 million people globally who are hungry today, and the additional 2 billion people expected to be undernourished by 2050.* Increasing capacity for agricultural productivity and safe, sustainable food production systems is vital, not least when it comes to the food such as Sorghum, which is a staple crop in Africa. Nitrilase enzymes are attractive biocatalysts for use in a range of biotechnological products which could be useful for agriculture. Through the GCRF START Programme, a team of scientists from the University of Cape Town was able to gain new insights into the structure and inner workings of nitrilase enzymes. These insights will enable the next step of research into how nitrilase enzymes can be used to generate new biotechnology solutions which could increase agricultural productivity, critical in the light of climate change and increasing populations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/04/09/the-start-of-great-things/ |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 3 - New insights into the structure and inner workings of nitrilase enzymes - Novel solutions for cleaning up hazardous waste from mining and industry in Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The UN has made substantially reducing the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination a key aim by 2030 (UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.9). Herbicides, pesticides, plastics and the waste from manufacturing and mining industries generate highly toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic nitriles that can end up in the environment and cause lasting damage, impacting human, animal and plant health. Nitrilase enzymes are attractive biocatalysts which could be useful for cleaning up hazardous waste from mining and industry using enzyme-catalysed products. Through the GCRF START Programme, a team of scientists from the University of Cape Town were able to gain new insights into the structure and inner workings of nitrilase enzymes by visualising the structure of an intact helical filament at close-to-atomic resolution for the first time using the state of the art 'super microscopes' at the UK's Diamond Light Source synchrotron. These insights allowed the team to semi-rationally design a new mutant nitrilase that produces biotechnologically interesting products which could be used for cleaning up hazardous waste. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/04/09/the-start-of-great-things/ |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 4 - Developing the next generation of research leaders in structural biology - Dr Andani's Mulelu's story |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Access to education and training in Africa for the full lifecycle, particularly for marginalised people in vulnerable settings is still inadequate including for post-doctoral studies. This can be due to a lack of access to resources at home institutions, insufficient grant writing experience, a lack of mentors or supervisors, and poor postdoctoral pay*. The UN calls for inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities to address this challenge for all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations (USD Goal 4). In order to address these challenges, an "education revolution is needed underpinned by science, technology and innovation to ensure well educated citizens and thriving economies" (Agenda 63). To this end, the GCRF START programme is enabling researchers like Dr Mulelu to work towards their individual goals in a supportive environment built around accessing the best technology and a fantastic transfer of expertise. Dr Mulelu's story is an example of how UK and Africa can work together through START to support talented individuals and excellent research through education and training. The result can be improved employment opportunities and poverty alleviation for scientists who would otherwise struggle to access these due to hardship and/or inequality. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/04/09/the-start-of-great-things/ |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 5 - Computational modelling of catalysts for CO2 recycling - New collaboration opportunities through GCRF START |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Using technological measures together with changes in behaviour, it is still possible to limit the rise in global mean temperatures linked to pollution from fossil fuels*. In the search for sustainable, cleaner energy sources, one approach involves Catalysis and renewable combustible liquid fuels to enable novel technologies to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it into valuable and versatile synthetic fuels, instead of fossil fuels. This would allow for an entirely closed carbon cycle, reflecting nature's own carbon cycle. Dr Michael Higham is funded by GCRF START and provides START collaborators with expertise in computational techniques to investigate both new and existing catalytic materials to utilise CO2, in particular, for methanol synthesis. Methanol is an important industrial feedstock material and can be used as a renewable fuel when generated from atmospheric CO2. Shipping and aviation are amongst the largest consumers of fossil fuels and CO2 producers, yet cannot be converted easily to utilise electricity from renewable and non-polluting sources, which would require substantial new investment. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/04/24/new-collaboration-opportunities-for-computational-insights-into... |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 6 - Inspiring the next generation of scientists through GCRF START mentoring and outreach - Sikhumbuzo Masina's story |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Access to inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for the vulnerable (UNSD Goal 4 - Education and Life-long learning), is a distant dream for many young people across Africa. Few have the opportunity to learn about science from experts and finish school, let alone to go to university to study world class science. From humble beginnings as a shepherd boy in Swaziland, to a PhD student collaborating with the START community, Sikhumbuzo takes part in outreach to university students and school children drawing on the knowledge gained through the mentoring and collaboration support he receives through his PhD supervisor and GCRF START Co-Investigator, Professor Dave Billing at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Siku is investigating Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) electrolytes for alternative energy solutions to address the energy crisis in Africa and beyond. Without such investment through mentoring, outreach and financial support "for the long haul", Sikhumbuzo says, students lose trust and hope, and may give up their studies. Continuity and sustainability are also lost in terms of research programmes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/06/18/inspiring-the-next-generation-of-african-scientists-sikhumbuzo-... |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 7 - Double first! First synchrotron user from the University of Zululand solves partial structure of the Schistosomiasis (Bilharzia) G4LZI3 universal stress protein |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Schistosomiasis* (Bilharzia) is an acute and chronic disease caused by parasitic worms (schistosomes) for which only one treatment is available - the drug Praziquantel. This means people are vulnerable to schistosome resistance and the treatment is only partially effective in treating adults. The aim of Priscilla Masamba's PhD research was to generate insights for the design of alternative treatments for Schistosomiasis but the small and resource constrained University of Zululand, where she studied, is situated in a rural part of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) and lacked the facilities required for Dr Masamba to achieve all her objectives, until the collaboration with GCRF START grant provided Priscilla with new and exciting opportunities. An important objective of the GCRF START grant is to increase the number of structural biologists in less developed universities across the African continent in order to discover novel drug targets to prevent and treat diseases such as Schistosomiasis. This can present complex challenges, not least because many students and university laboratories find themselves ill-equipped, both in facilities and training, for work in the field of structural biology. Without sustained access to, and funding for the use of sophisticated synchrotron techniques to develop appropriate research skills and unique insights for disease prevention and drug targets, diseases like Schistosomiasis will continue to adversely impact the health and livelihoods of millions of people and economies across Africa and globally, as students and institutions struggle to address these challenges themselves. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/06/05/double-first-first-synchrotron-user-from-the-university-of-zulu... |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 8 - Building capacity amongst emerging African female scientists - HIV researcher Dr Thandeka Moyo |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The urgency to find an HIV vaccine is a major global challenge, especially if we are to meet the Sustainable Development target of ending AIDS by 2030*. In Africa, there were nearly half a million deaths in 2018 alone, with East and Southern Africa shouldering the greatest burden*. A big problem is that the subtypes of HIV are so diverse, that we need a vaccine that can target all the types. Another key challenge is to build suficient, well-equipped, and diverse research capacity. Female African scientists, in particular, are generally under presented in structural biology on the African continent. Using protein biochemistry and structural biology techniques, GCRF START Postdoctoral Research Assistant (PDRA), Dr Thandeka Moyo, concentrates on broadly neutralising antibodies towards HIV - antibodies which prevent various global strains of the virus from entering human cells and establishing infection. Broadly neutralising antibodies may be the key to an effective HIV vaccine therefore Dr Moyo's research focuses on studying the interactions between these antibodies and the HIV Envelope that forms the outer coat of the virus. Knowing exactly where and how these antibodies bind to diverse strains of HIV may aid in the design of vaccine components which can trigger these antibody responses upon immunisation. Access to the latest and most sophisticated research techniques and equipment is vital for Dr Moyo's research to be a success, now accessible with the GCRF START grant. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/08/24/how-i-became-an-hiv-research-scientist-one-zimbabweans-story/ |
| Description | STFC Impact Study 9 - Examining Organic Solar Cell microstuctures for improved solar energy performance |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As the demand on the world's classical energy resources such as petroleum products and natural gas are increasing, we must find alternative energy resources. In Egypt, for example, the government has set renewable energy targets of 20% of the electricity mix by 2022 and 42% 20351 and is investing in massive solar farms such as the Benban project in Aswan and other solar energy projects. Improving the efficiency of the performance of Solar Cells for energy production is a challenge being investigated by scientists for alternative energy supply and pollution reduction measures in line with the Sustainable Development Goals 7 & 13. Mohamed Abdelaal is studying for his Master's at the Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, under the supervision of GCRF START Co-I, Prof. Dr. Ghada Bassioni. Mohamed's research involves examining Organic Solar Cells (OSC's) to monitor how the performance of the cells is affected by their micro-structure under different environmental conditions. If the efficiency of OSC's is improved, then countries in Africa like Egypt might invest in more new Solar farms. In addition, since OSC's can be made semi-transparent and flexible, they can be installed on the glass on buildings in crowded cities like Cairo. Ultimately, the aim is that everyone will benefit, either directly by producing more efficient OSC's to replace both silicon solar cells and non-renewable energy sources, or indirectly by reducing environmental pollution. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://start-project.org/2020/08/21/investigating-solar-energy-examining-the-microstructure-of-orga... |
| Description | Science Highlight - Designer enzymes on the way |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Science Highlights are published by Diamond Light Source to highlight some of the most interesting and advanced research carried out at the facility. In this instance, as part of the START collaboration, a team from Cape Town have recently published the first high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy (EM) paper to originate from Africa. As described in Nature Communications Biology, the team solved the structure of a nitrilases enzyme to a close-to-atomic resolution and used the structural insights to design a mutant enzyme that could be fine-tuned for applications in biotechnology. This work was made possible through an access programme funded by the Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology project, a collaborative grant which seeks to build partnerships between world leading scientists in Africa and the UK working together on research using synchrotron science. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.diamond.ac.uk/Science/Research/Highlights/2019/Designer-enzymes-on-the-way.html |
| Description | Skype-a-Scientist (START PDRA Pascal Kaienburg - Uni of Oxford) Skype with school students in USA (3 times) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | As part of Skype-a-scientist, interested students were answered questions on science, life as a scientist, and the international nature of research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.skypeascientist.com/ |
| Description | South African Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology - talk (Wolf-Dieter Schubert) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Results from the START grant were presented at Joint meeting of the South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SASBMB) - Federation of African Societires for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (FASBMB) Title: Interdomain interactions within a multimodular xylanase Xyl Place: North West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa Date: 10 July 2018 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://sasbmb.org.za/congress-2016/ |
| Description | Structural Biology Case Study 1 - Inspire a new generation of African scientists |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Dr Mulelu's Journey to becoming a 'Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology (START) Postdoctoral Research Fellow' at the University of Cape Town's (UCT's) and his achievements since, is one to inspire a new generation of African scientists to find innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing health and environmental challenges. Dr Mulelu's story is an example of how UK and Africa can work together to support talented individuals and excellent research with impact. Together with Jeremy and Angela M.Kirykowicz, Dr Mulelu was able to visualise the structure of an intact helical filament at close-to-atomic resolution for the first time - the first high resolution visualisation of a Cryo-Em4 protein structure ever to be produced in Africa! These results could lead one day to a change in the way we approach and access drug design and manufacturing to tackle some of the world's major diseases; and also provide novel 'green' and economical biotechnology solutions for agricultural food security, industry and mining waste treatment in Africa and beyond. After this success, Dr Mululu was offered a position at the H3D Drug Discovery and Development Centre at UCT as a Research Scientist. H3D is the first integrated drug discovery and development centre on the African continent and Dr Mulelu is responsible for providing scientific and technical support in protein expression and purification, structural biology and running biochemical assays to increase the capacity of H3D's Malaria and Tuberculosis (TB) target based drug discovery programs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Structural Biology Case Study 2 - A Dream Realised - How we produced the first high resolution Cryo-Em structure in Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The first hand account from Dr Mulelu of how the first high resolution Cryo-EM structure in Africa was achieved through cutting edge research into nitrilase enzymes at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa. The results were published on the 17 July 2019 in Nature Communications Biology 2:260 (2019) 4 and involved experiments using the Diamond Light Source synchrotron in the UK through the Global Challenges Research Fund's Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology Programme (GCRF_START). The exciting journey to this new discovery is charted in detail including the challenges and pleasant surprises faced along the way. Through the eye of the researchers, the personal experiences of preparing the samples and visiting Diamond Light Source Ltd for the first time, as well as the lessons and knowledge learnt, are described in a 'behind-the-scenes' look at the impact of START from a personal perspective. The resolution of the structure was of international standards. Previously the enzymes had been viewed as "blobs" but now they could be seen in all their intricate detail at close to atomic scale. The impact in terms of knowledge gained and exchanged was immense, personally and scientifically. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Structural Biology Case Study feature 3 - The START of great things! Visualising the structure of an intact helical filament at close-to-atomic resolution for the first time |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The work of Dr Jeremy Woodward, Dr Andani Mulelu and Angela M.Kirykowicz from the University of Cape Town has provided novel and exciting insights into the structure and inner workings of nitrilase enzymes with the potential to address key health, food security and environmental challenges within Africa and beyond. The results were published on the 17 July 2019 in Nature Communications Biology 2:260 (2019) 4 and made possible through access to the eBic facilities at the UK's world-class Diamond Light Source Synchrotron. Using Diamond's 'super microscopes', the scientists were able to observe how the maximum size of a bound substrate is limited by a loop which shifts with helical twist after mutating a single amino acid. These insights allowed the team to semi-rationally design a new mutant nitrilase that produces biotechnologically interesting products. The results achieved could play an important part in providing solutions to meet key global challenges through novel drug design and manufacturing to tackle communicable and non-communicable diseases and pioneering 'green' biotechnology options for agricultural food security, and industry, and mining waste treatment using enzyme-catalysed products. For example, the ability to manipulate how nitrilases work could enable more cost effective manufacturing of drugs for such diseases, leading to cheaper and more accessible medicines, great news for Africa and in other developing countries. In addition, manufacturing locally has a variety of advantages including lowering costs of transport and improving local economic development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | The Third African Synchrotron Light Source Conference (AfLS3) : towards a brighter future |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Review the light source based science and further progress the vision of an African Light Source. Conference cover topics that include Medical Sciences, Heritage Sciences, Geosciences, Environmental sciences, Energy Sciences, Nano Sciences, Materials Sciences, Mineral Sciences, Accelerator and Detector Sciences, Competitive Industry, Capacity Building and Infrastructures. There will also be sessions on the strategy and vision for an African light source. GCRF START Collaborator Trevor Sewell (University of Cape Town) is one of the presenters on the Thursday 19th to talk about START. There was also a 'Light Sources Round Table' on 20th where Diamond Light Source CEO Andrew Harrison was in attendance, joined by ESRF, SESAME and ALBA (LEAPS). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | http://events.saip.org.za/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=170 |
| Description | The future of cryo-Electron Microscopy in South Africa (Jermey Woodward) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk at the South Africa Bioimaging Symposium in Stellenbosch, Oct 2018 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Trevor Sewell invited speaker at African Light Source Conference Nov 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Trevor was asked to talk about START at the joint virtual meeting of the African Light Source (AfLS), the African Physical Society (AfPS), and Pan African Conference on Crystallography (ePCCr), discussing the success and outputs from the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://events.saip.org.za/event/170/ |
| Description | UCT Chemical Engineering Open Day (Michael Claeys Group) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talk to school leavers and their parents about Chemical Engineering |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | University of Cape Town IBMS Departmental seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Dr Lubbe delivered a talk entitled: "Structural Insight into Angiotensin converting enzyme function" to the Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences at the University of Cape Town on 3 September 2020. The presentation described how crystal structure and cryo-EM data that Dr Lubbe analysed during her START postdoc term has improved our understanding of angiotensin converting enzyme's biological function in health and disease. This demonstrated to the department the impact that the START grant and synchrotron techniques has on studying disease. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | University of Cape Town Open Day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Learners were given information about structural biology at a "booth" devoted to the START project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://www.students.uct.ac.za/students/prospective/open-days |
| Description | Webinar MRS Kenya (PDRA Pascal Kaienburg Presented) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Pascal Kaienburg Presented - The START project and some of the work being done was communicated to a large audience in a potential ODA recipient country, enhancing awareness for START |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | rgy Materials Case Study 4 - Part 1: Computational modelling of catalysts for CO2 recycling and renewable fuel synthesis ; Part 2: Dr M.Higham's secondment report |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | This study examines the role of Catalysis and sustainable, renewable combustible liquid fuels. Dr Michael Higham's research entails applying computational techniques to investigate both new and existing catalytic materials to utilise CO2, in particular for methanol synthesis. Methanol can be used as both a conventional combustible fuel, as well as in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC)10 , which offer an alternative to hydrogen fuel cells with fewer safety and engineering issues to be addressed. Furthermore, methanol can also be used as a starting material for subsequent catalytic processes to produce hydrocarbons, which are chemically equivalent to existing liquid fuels and allow for maximal utilisation of existing technologies. Dr Higham's research has mostly focused on copper (Cu) based catalysts for methanol synthesis, which have been used extensively for the conversion of synthesis gas (a mixture of CO2, CO, H2O and H2 originating from coal gasification processes). In particular, the Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst has been used successfully for decades. Dr Higham has conducted extensive computational investigations into the mechanism of CO2 and CO hydrogenation to methanol over unsupported Cu catalysts, providing detailed insights into key intermediates and limiting elementary processes in the overall reaction. Whilst there is a great deal of focus on renewable electricity sources such as wind and solar, sustainable and renewable combustible liquid fuels will make an important contribution to reducing humanity's dependence on unsustainable and polluting fuel sources. Catalysis is set to play a core role in alleviating the environmental harm caused by rising CO2 and other challenges by enabling revolutionary new technologies to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and converting it into valuable and versatile synthetic fuels, which may one day replace unsustainable fossil fuels. This would allow for an entirely closed carbon cycle, reflecting nature's own carbon cycle. Computer simulations and modelling are important components in catalytic research, supporting and corroborating by providing an atomic-scale insight into the phenomena that are responsible for macro-scale observations in actual experiments. Using computational investigations, the researchers can test hypotheses in their research for explanations of observed real-world behaviour and on the flipside, they can use what we already know about well-studied systems to examine new, novel materials, and therefore help to direct future experimental studies. For example, Dr Higham's work will provide a benchmark for future computational studies examining ZnO-supported catalysts, which in turn will provide atomic-scale insights into the origin of catalytic activity that will directly complement experimental synchrotron studies. Following Dr Higham's fruitful research secondment at the University of Cape Town (UCT) through START towards the end of 2019, several new collaborative projects are planned for the new year, in particular, with members of Professor Michael Claeys' group at the Institute of Catalysis Research, UCT and the Centre of Excellence in Catalysis Research (c*change), namely Dr Mohamed Fadlalla and Christopher Mullins, as well as Dominic de Oliveira. The planned collaborations represent not only a trajectory for progress in solving real-world energy problems, but also a fundamental knowledge foundation that can inform future studies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |