Team BioTech and FoodTech
Serepa-Dlamini says the department aims to initiate a level of attitude in research scholars that will provide solutions to environmental, industrial, agricultural, food and health-based problems. As such, the department’s research activities in food security include mycotoxicology, a field in which the toxins produced by fungi in the food and feed industry are analysed and studied; food product development from indigenous resources and how these can be elevated for contribution to health; biomolecule recovery from food waste, and three-dimensional (3D) food printing.
According to Serepa-Dlamini, in the not-too-distant future, biotechnology and food technology will be at the heart of providing solutions to significant challenges faced by humankind, such as: • Feeding nine billion people sustainably by 2050. • Staying healthier for longer as lifespans increase and society ages. • Increasing the lifespan of fresh food. • Bio-converting food to other products. • Addressing the challenges of antimicrobial resistance.
The department’s new BSc Honours Biotechnology and BSc Honours Food Technology commencing in January next year is a big step forward. “Our honours programmes were designed to ensure we train industry practitioners, researchers and graduates who can independently integrate and apply advanced academic knowledge and techniques in line with current developments in the fields of food technology and biotechnology and the role they play in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR),” says Serepa-Dlamini. Both programmes will address the SDGs and the needs of South Africa’s National Bio-economy Strategy 2030 by preparing UJ graduates for a technologically driven workplace linked to positive societal impact. We expect our BSc Honours graduates to access different future career choices effectively or continue pursuing higher degrees such as the MSc in Food Technology or Biotechnology as currently offered at UJ.
The research underpins and drives advances in medicine and health, green technologies, new pharmaceuticals and safe and nutritious food; it leads to more sustainable agriculture, helps to combat infectious diseases and underpins responses to climate change.
At the time the interview with Prof Serepa-Dlamini was conducted, she received the news that a manuscript in collaboration with one of her PhD students, Ms SC Makuwa, and Biochemistry colleagues, Prof Motadi and Dr Choene, in which a new novel bacterial species – Bacillus dicomae sp. nov.– is described, was accepted for publication in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. This work is the first for multiple other novel strains to be discovered and described in the department and will serve as a valuable resource for a range of biotechnological applications.
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