Page 54 - SAMRC AnnualReport 2025-26

Building Capacity Through
› Surveillance of emerging infectious diseases
(EIDs) of zoonotic importance using a One Training, Mentorship and Support
Health approach: Investigating the prevalence
of bacterial and viral zoonotic diseases, as well as The majority of the Centre's postgraduate
foodborne pathogens, in cattle, poultry and pig students are South African women, reflecting our
farms across the Eastern Cape Province. commitment to advancing transformation and
building scientific capacity.
› Bioactive compounds from aquatic environments:
Assessing the effects of sulphated polysaccharides During the reporting period, the Centre hosted a
extracted from Ecklonia maxima on carbohydrate- capacity development workshop on metagenomics
hydrolysing enzymes, muscle glucose uptake and bioinformatics for postgraduate students and
and intestinal glucose absorption under ex vivo postdoctoral fellows. The training strengthened
conditions. participants' technical competencies in these
rapidly evolving fields, equipping them with
In addition to these major projects, the Centre advanced skills to support their research.
undertook mentorship-infused initiatives aimed at The Centre also hosted an outreach workshop
strengthening postgraduate research supervision for secondary school learners from the Alice
within African higher education institutions. community. The initiative introduced learners

These research activities resulted in numerous to the fascinating world of microorganisms and
peer-reviewed publications and the successful encouraged Grade 12 learners to consider pursuing
graduation of several postgraduate students studies in the microbial sciences. Both training
initiatives were highly successful and contributed
during the financial year.
meaningfully to the Centre's skills development
The Centre experienced no major operational and community engagement objectives.
challenges during the reporting period. The
primary challenge remains the retention of Artificial Intelligence in
talented postgraduate students, as the Centre is Medical and Health Research
unable to compete with the higher-value bursaries The Centre is currently not focusing on AI. However,
offered by other universities, resulting in the loss the Centre intends to pursue this with vigour going
of some students to better-funded institutions. forward.

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