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Issue 4, April 2015
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While Prof Ben Zeelie was trying to figure out how he could grow enough algae as a source of biomass for biofuels, he made an unintended, yet rather fortunate, breakthrough.
“Somewhere along the line, we discovered by accident that algae and coal make a nice combination.” A nice combination as a biofuel briquette that is, one has been trademarked as Coalgae®.
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In August last year, staff from the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens in Cape Town awoke to find that 13 magnificent cycads had vanished overnight. They’d been uprooted by thieves, probably to be sold to a buyer who would never even know they’d been illegally sourced. |
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“If you truly want to change the world, my friends, you must change your thinking.”
This quote, taken from the musical Time and originally penned by Dave Clark, is emblazoned across the webpage of BiODX, a South African biotechnology company that makes a versatile and eco-friendly biocide product. It is embodied in BiODX’s values, its business model, and in the biocide technology itself. |
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University of Zululand researchers have created a versatile, first-of-its-kind nanoscopic homing system to target cancer cells specifically. In other words, they’ve synthesised a tiny vehicle that would deliver potent drugs only to abnormal cancer cells, while avoiding normal, healthy cells. |
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Dr Olckers has acted as an expert witness in many landmark DNA evidence cases, including the first ever in South Africa: The State vs Maqhina, 2001.
Since then she has been involved in several high profile cases and the professionalism with which she has done this has changed the way in which evidence is submitted to court on a national level.
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Biotech Bytes
snippets of the latest in local peer-reviewed research
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Save the date
upcoming biotech events & conferences to diarise.
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Book Review
The New Harvest: agricultural innovation in Africa
Read more
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The PUB Programme is an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and is implemented by SAASTA. The mandate of PUB is
to promote a clear, balanced understanding of the potential of biotechnology and to ensure broad public awareness, dialogue and
debate about biotechnology and its current and potential applications.
For more information visit www.pub.ac.za or contact
info@pub.ac.za, Tel: 012 392 9300 or Fax: 012 320 7803.
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The articles in this newsletter have been reviewed by independent experts through SAASTA’s
Scientific Editorial Process. For more information please visit saasta.ac.za.
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The PUB newsletter is an initiative of the Public Understanding of Biotechnology (PUB) programme.
The newsletter is developed by ScienceLink.
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