The future of Structural Biology in South Africa – opportunities and barriers
“Structural biology is a powerful tool. It is about images and there is power in seeing things. By visualising one is raising one’s capacity to imagine. This is what Structural Biology offers. Structural Biology is indispensable to address the bio-medical issues of our time.”
Professor Addmore Shonhai, University of Venda, South Africa
Opportunities
Structural Biology is a development opportunity. Attendees gave examples of how Structural Biology and synchrotron techniques address global and local themes of health, food security, climate change, the environment, industry, and energy security which are central to development plans in South Africa. Agreement was unanimous on the need to accelerate home-grown solutions tailored to the specific needs and contexts in South Africa and across Africa as a whole.
To keep up with global bio-discovery and innovation, Africans must have access to Structural Biology training, supportive collaborations, and cutting-edge infrastructure, including national and international facilities. Structural Biology and synchrotron techniques, including cryo-Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM), hold a vital key to unlocking Africa’s potential in this regard.
Unlocking these opportunities will require funded posts for optimal career progression. Additional posts will arise to support the infrastructure necessary for the Structural Biology workflow. Skills developed within the workflow can readily be deployed in the health, agriculture, and industrial sectors. Indeed, the establishment of an infrastructure for research and education in Structural Biology is the gateway to the bioeconomy. The case for Structural Biology is clear and it is imperative to bring the discipline to the attention of politicians and other strategic stakeholders.
Providing funded research, technical, and teaching positions is essential, alongside the training of early career scientists and equipping labs; the resulting growth will lead to substantial employment opportunities.
Barriers
“It is not easy to establish a career in Structural Biology in Africa. We apply for various funding opportunities for lab running costs, but some grants exclusively fund students and postdocs and not the actual research costs. And unfortunately, grants for students and postdocs are often a very small amount of money and not sufficient to keep people alive. We need to address this if we want to build a skilled workforce in South Africa.”
Dr Thandeka Moyo, National Institute for Clinical Diseases (NICD); affiliated to the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (Wits)
In practice, the entire Structural Biology workflow needs to be addressed. At the most fundamental level, proteins must be prepared and characterised to a high-quality standard so that further studies are meaningful. In South Africa, the fact that there are fewer than ten laboratories in which proteins can be prepared for structural work is a significant barrier.
Existing infrastructure is old or aging with significant maintenance challenges. Conference participants described how the responsibility for maintenance usually lies with the company that supplies the equipment. These international companies often delegate the responsibility to African subcontractors. Many South African suppliers have lost their technical expertise because there is too little equipment to keep skills alive and bringing technicians from abroad to South Africa to fix just one or two pieces of equipment is prohibitively expensive.
Furthermore, a shortage of technicians to support the research process and day-to-day running of laboratory equipment means that students, post-docs, and investigators need to undertake tasks normally assigned to technical staff. Tasks include placing orders, stocking laboratories, cleaning, calibrating equipment, and maintaining bacterial cultures, reducing research time and productivity.
Regular funding is thus imperative to maintain momentum and build on START’s legacy. Until now, the focus has been on training and establishing projects at seven historically advantaged institutions, but the emphasis must shift to developing a nationally enabling infrastructure for all scientists in South Africa.