Newsletter: October 2016

Welcome to the latest edition of NanoNews brought to you by NPEP and partners once again. October was Breast Cancer Awareness month. In this month, we bring you some of the latest developments in nano and health in South Africa and around the world, helping to keep you informed about the myriad ways in which nanoscience and nanotechnology are changing our world.

If you or your family have never been affected by cancer, HIV/AIDS, TB or malaria in your life time, then you are one of the few in South Africa. Cancer, for example, is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) global report, cancer accounted for 8.2 million deaths in 2012. More than about 60% of the world’s new annual cases occur in Africa, Asia and Central and South America.

Nanotechnology is an emerging field of science that promises to revolutionise medicine in the 21st century, as it offers great potential to advance the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of many diseases including cancer, TB, HIV/AIDS and malaria, to name but a few. Please don’t miss the Symposium on Nanomedicine and HIV/AIDS to be held on 02 December 2016 at SAASTA (Didacta building, 211 Nana Sita Street, Pretoria), as well the 4^th South African Nano Summer School from 04 to 09 December 2016, at North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus. The theme for 2016 is “Nanotechnology health, safety and environmental risk research: A necessity and not an impediment in the advancement of nanotechnology benefits.”

This edition of the newsletter shares some of the benefits nanotechnology may bring to improve the health of the people of South Africa, Africa and the whole world through the work of local researchers, and some significant events initiated by the Department of Science and Technology.

We are proud of the work of our young writers who are developing their science communication portfolios through the newsletters. We would like to involve more young researchers in this initiative to develop a generation of communicating researchers.

It is unfortunate that our universities still find themselves under a dark cloud of student protests due to the “Fees Must Fall” campaign which has led to property being destroyed, people being injured and a number of students being jailed. We pray for an urgent amicable solution between the affected parties so that all students can return to classes.

As always, we value your input, articles or recommendations on all things nano that you would like to see profiled in the NPEP NanoNews, from news items and postgraduate opportunities to event notifications. For all comments and suggestions, simply email us at nanonews@npep.co.za.