Science Annual Research Conference

Computational Chemistry to Complement Experimental Research Relevant to Africa

Research is an iterative process of systematic investigation of a particular topic using scientific methods. One of the purposes of research is to contribute to the development of a country and ultimately to address the world’s problems. In the same line, scientists in Africa have been working to solve problems pertinent to the continent. Chemistry is an experimental natural science which makes use of laboratory equipment in order to carry out competitive research. Computational chemistry is a relatively new discipline because it requires software and computational resources to deliver scientific insights for experimentally relevant systems. Efficiently coded quantum chemical programs are now available and the speed of computational hardware has increased in the last decades. These have contributed to the present situation, where chemical research developed to an experimental and theoretical discipline.

There is nowadays essentially no area of chemical research without the use of modern computational methods. This holds for classical synthetic work in fundamental organic and inorganic chemistry as well as for presently highly important applications of chemical studies in areas such as material sciences, drug design, energy storage and photochemistry. Some of these topics are particularly relevant for Africa, which has specific challenges in terms of food supply, agriculture, medical treatment and energy shortage. There is urgent need to study within African countries the most efficient ways to solve the pressing problems and remedy the shortages and to develop practical and efficient ways to meet the requirements of the people.

This presentation will review (i) the applications of computational chemistry in areas of research relevant to Africa; (ii) our research using computational chemistry ranging from fundamental to applied research, and (iii) our programme in training scientists from Africa in computational chemistry.

Development of plant-based drugs for the treatment of climate-change induced disease epidemics: The case of Malaria and HIV/AIDS

Modern pharmacopoeias contain many drugs initially sourced from medicinal plants used in traditional settings. Tapping into the rich vein of indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants serves as a promising starting-point for drug discovery. Careful review of ancient texts about the medico-botanical knowledge of traditional healers, sometimes called barefoot doctors, is a short-cut to the discovery of pharmacologically-active compounds that may be developed into novel drugs to treat climate change-induced disease epidemics, in general, and malaria and HIV/AIDS, in particular. This lecture highlights recent research in the discovery of antimalarial and anti-HIV drugs from Namibian medicinal plants.

Climate change: Threats and Opportunities to Food Security in SADC

Each human being is ideally expected to have physical and economic access at all times to sufficient safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for a healthy and active life. This essentially means that no child or adult must suffer from hunger, malnutrition (obesity, undernutrition) and no stunting. When these hold true for an individual person or a household, then there is food security. Often they do not hold true though and thus each person or household experinces chronic or transitory food insecurity. There are several dimensions to food security, namely food availability, access to available nutritious food in sufficient quantities, utilisation through the metabolism of the food and all these must be stable at all times throughout all seasons and years. While all these dimensions can be influenced by many socio-cultural-political-economic factors, climate change and/or variability can affect directly and primarily the food availability dimension.

Over half of sub-Sahara human populations dwell mostly in rural and peri-urban areas, where they depend on self-production of food by planting crops and vegetables, rearing livestock, collection of wild food resources and through small-scale fishing. This contribution focuses on the effect of climate change on the food resources and access to it. It also highlights the roles of technology and indigenous knowledge in mitigating impact of the effects of climate change on the food resources. It asks who are the most impacted by climate change effects? Are the impacts positive or negative? Climate change effects can variably influence the yield of these efforts and the type of food resources which become available during a particular climate regime. How have the subsistence farmers and/or fishers and/or wild food resources collectors make lemonade from the lemons of climate change and/or variability? A select climate change and/or variability effects and their associated threats and opportunities to livelihoods are outlined to raise the debate on and contextualise the extent of climate change impacts on food security at various levels.

Please download the programme for your respective school or department from our download page.

Computational Chemistry to Complement Experimental Research Relevant to Africa

Research is an iterative process of systematic investigation of a particular topic using scientific methods. One of the purposes of research is to contribute to the development of a country and ultimately to address the world’s problems. In the same line, scientists in Africa have been working to solve problems pertinent to the continent. Chemistry is an experimental natural science which makes use of laboratory equipment in order to carry out competitive research. Computational chemistry is a relatively new discipline because it requires software and computational resources to deliver scientific insights for experimentally relevant systems. Efficiently coded quantum chemical programs are now available and the speed of computational hardware has increased in the last decades. These have contributed to the present situation, where chemical research developed to an experimental and theoretical discipline.

There is nowadays essentially no area of chemical research without the use of modern computational methods. This holds for classical synthetic work in fundamental organic and inorganic chemistry as well as for presently highly important applications of chemical studies in areas such as material sciences, drug design, energy storage and photochemistry. Some of these topics are particularly relevant for Africa, which has specific challenges in terms of food supply, agriculture, medical treatment and energy shortage. There is urgent need to study within African countries the most efficient ways to solve the pressing problems and remedy the shortages and to develop practical and efficient ways to meet the requirements of the people.

This presentation will review (i) the applications of computational chemistry in areas of research relevant to Africa; (ii) our research using computational chemistry ranging from fundamental to applied research, and (iii) our programme in training scientists from Africa in computational chemistry.

Development of plant-based drugs for the treatment of climate-change induced disease epidemics: The case of Malaria and HIV/AIDS

Modern pharmacopoeias contain many drugs initially sourced from medicinal plants used in traditional settings. Tapping into the rich vein of indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants serves as a promising starting-point for drug discovery. Careful review of ancient texts about the medico-botanical knowledge of traditional healers, sometimes called barefoot doctors, is a short-cut to the discovery of pharmacologically-active compounds that may be developed into novel drugs to treat climate change-induced disease epidemics, in general, and malaria and HIV/AIDS, in particular. This lecture highlights recent research in the discovery of antimalarial and anti-HIV drugs from Namibian medicinal plants.

Climate change: Threats and Opportunities to Food Security in SADC

Each human being is ideally expected to have physical and economic access at all times to sufficient safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for a healthy and active life. This essentially means that no child or adult must suffer from hunger, malnutrition (obesity, undernutrition) and no stunting. When these hold true for an individual person or a household, then there is food security. Often they do not hold true though and thus each person or household experinces chronic or transitory food insecurity. There are several dimensions to food security, namely food availability, access to available nutritious food in sufficient quantities, utilisation through the metabolism of the food and all these must be stable at all times throughout all seasons and years. While all these dimensions can be influenced by many socio-cultural-political-economic factors, climate change and/or variability can affect directly and primarily the food availability dimension.

Over half of sub-Sahara human populations dwell mostly in rural and peri-urban areas, where they depend on self-production of food by planting crops and vegetables, rearing livestock, collection of wild food resources and through small-scale fishing. This contribution focuses on the effect of climate change on the food resources and access to it. It also highlights the roles of technology and indigenous knowledge in mitigating impact of the effects of climate change on the food resources. It asks who are the most impacted by climate change effects? Are the impacts positive or negative? Climate change effects can variably influence the yield of these efforts and the type of food resources which become available during a particular climate regime. How have the subsistence farmers and/or fishers and/or wild food resources collectors make lemonade from the lemons of climate change and/or variability? A select climate change and/or variability effects and their associated threats and opportunities to livelihoods are outlined to raise the debate on and contextualise the extent of climate change impacts on food security at various levels.

Please download the programme for your respective school or department from our download page.