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Patience Mthunzi
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The CSIR's human capital development (HCD) is reaping rewards as more of its staff enrolls for postgraduate qualifications.
In 2008, the CSIR had about 201 employees registered for Master's and doctoral studies at local and international universities.
Patience Mthunzi (33), a researcher at the CSIR National Laser Centre, is one of many employees on the CSIR's HCD programme, which is aimed at developing young researchers to be the best in their respective research areas.
For Mthunzi this is a journey that began three and half years ago taking her from the dusty streets of Orlando West, Soweto to the land of Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, Scotland.
Her PhD is in laser physics and the specific field is called
biophotonics.
According to her, this area is a "true mixture" of physics, medicine, chemistry, biochemistry and biology. "It is stimulating and exciting," she says speaking from Scotland. "I study the manipulation of nano-scale and/or micro-scale biological materials with laser light tweezers for medical purposes."
Mthunzi builds and uses optical tweezers designed from lasers of different wavelengths and regimes for various bio-applications.
"To my knowledge," she says, "I will be the first person in South Africa to obtain a PhD in the optical tweezer area."
After matriculating from Reasöma Secondary School in 1994, she enrolled
for a degree in psychology at the University of South Africa, but her
deep love for science deflected her attention to a BSc degree in
biochemistry followed by an Honours and a Master's.
"Early in 2004," she continues, "I commenced a job search for a permanent position and the CSIR represented everything I aspired to as a young scientist. The CSIR had all the resources and a diverse range of research prospects, which to me meant I could change jobs from my previous employer but still keep to my first love, science!"
Mthunzi emphasizes that "everything in life revolves around science,
engineering and technology." "Science teaches us how things work. If a
person is sick for example, science provides knowledge of how viruses,
bacteria and parasites infect the body, how the immune system clears the
foreign bugs and how medication can be applied to improve the patient's
health." She adds, "Engineering allows the construction and design of
various objects ranging from the latest portable medical tools for
treat-as-you-go purposes to massive telescopes, buildings, cars; the
list is endless. Technology makes life even more interesting because we
are able to communicate with each other while we are continents apart."
Mthunzi has published two papers and is about to submit another two for publishing.
The published papers are titled: 'Intracellular dielectric tagging for improved optical manipulation of mammalian cells' and 'Optical separation of cells on potential energy landscapes: enhancement with dielectric tagging'.
Her ambition is to put South Africa on the map through innovative
research in the world of photonics. "I would also love to secure
research funds for biophysics and/or biophotonics and publish good
quality papers - my dream is to contribute articles in esteemed journals
like Nature, Cell and Science."
Speaking about living in the UK she says that life has certainly not been without challenges. But her determination to achieve her objective has transformed her to becoming "a champion" for problem solving. "Living and studying in Scotland has been extremely educational," she says. "I received an opportunity to discover who I am, develop my career, explore 13 different European countries both for business and pleasure and acquire the necessary survival skills," she says, adding, "being a student at this institution - the first university in Scotland and second oldest in Britain - is more than an honour."
All this, she says, created a high level of optimism for a girl from Soweto. "To me, this simply says that there is nothing in life that is impossible," says Mthunzi. "I have developed a 'go-getter' attitude and would like to share that with fellow South Africans upon my return."
"Personally", she continues "I think South Africa has huge potential. It is also in a fortunate position to be able to learn from other more developed countries when it comes to science and technology advancement."
Mthunzi says she is grateful to the CSIR for opening doors for her through its HCD programme by providing financial support for her PhD studies.
The CSIR's pipeline development indicators show that a number of graduates have been offered permanent CSIR positions in the past three years: 42 interns, three scholarship students, 20 studentships and 16 postdoctoral students.
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