Biosciences

Process development provider appointed for CSIR's anti-rabies antibody Kentucky BioProcessing has signed an agreement with the CSIR to develop a commercially efficient process for RabiVir™, the CSIR's award-winning anti-rabies antibody developed in a start-up venture with GreenPharm™.

Young CSIR researcher receives Sidney Brenner Fellowship Award Samantha Barichievy from the CSIR has received the prestigious Sidney Brenner Fellowship Award. The 28-year-old Barichievy joined the CSIR in May this year to write up her PhD. She has immersed herself in a quest to address one of the biggest socio-economic challenges of our time and our country - HIV/Aids.

Built environment

CSIR technology to improve quality, durability of low-income housing Recognising sustainable, quality low-income housing as a national priority, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) commissioned the CSIR to investigate technology possibilities for improved low-income housing.

Human settlements 'Red Book' available free online The Guidelines for Human Settlement Planning and Design, also known as the 'Red Book' is now available free of charge on the CSIR website.

Stylianides elected as ORSSA Fellow Theo Stylianides, who leads the CSIR team involved in advanced modelling and supply-chain research, as well as statistical modelling and analysis, has been elected a Fellow of the Operations Research Society of South Africa (ORSSA).

Defence, peace, safety & security

CSIR and Airbus sign agreement for studies on future eco-efficient aircraft technologies The CSIR and Airbus, the world's leading commercial aircraft manufacturer, have agreed to expand their aeronautics research and technology development partnership.

Annual radar and electronic warfare conference to take place early December CSIR Defence, Peace, Safety and Security will host the annual Radar and Electronic Warfare (EW) Knowledge Base conference on 3 and 4 December 2009 at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria.

Information & communications

CSIR hosts international meeting of CEOS working group The first thunderstorm of the Pretoria summer season coincided with the start of WGISS 28 - the 28th meeting of the Working Group on Information Systems and Services. WGISS is a working group within the Committee of Earth Observations Satellites (CEOS).

CSIR partnerships create new expertise in geoinformatics The CSIR is joining forces with the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the Institute for Geoinformatics (IFGI) at the University of Münster in Germany as part of two initiatives to support the development and strengthening of South African capabilities in geo-informatics.

'Talking' cell phones now a reality A researcher at the CSIR's Meraka Institute has succeeded in putting an open-source text-to-speech (TTS) synthesizer onto the Symbian cell phone operating system. This makes it possible for text messages to be converted to spoken messages.

Laser science

Honorary appointment for laser scientist Recently, he was appointed as chief scientist by the CSIR and the ink had hardly dried when he signed his letter of appointment for the position of Honorary Associate Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), his Alma Mater. He also has an honorary appointment at the University of Stellenbosch.

New technology has potential to revolutionise production of lasers worldwide CSIR laser scientists have made a breakthrough in the design of laser resonators - resulting in a technology that is set to revolutionise the laser industry. The discovery has led to a submission to the Innovation Fund to prototype and commercialise the technology.

CSIR human capital development pays off 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.

Materials science and manufacturing

Nanotech-based drug-delivery system lauded 'best science to business opportunity' The CSIR team working on a nanotechnology-based drug-delivery system for TB treatment, walked away with the laurels at the SA Bio Plan Competition. The nano-drug delivery system is capable of slowly releasing TB drugs in a controlled and sustained manner within the cells improving dose frequency, treatment time and toxicity.

Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems

CSIR appoints Dr Utete as head of intelligent field robotics Dr Simukai Utete, an Oxford University graduate, has been appointed the group leader for Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems (MIAS), an emerging research area within CSIR Modelling and Digital Science. She has been acting in the same position for the past seven months.

Natural resources and the environment

Higher temperatures lead to warmer and more toxic inland water resources, warn CSIR researchers CSIR researchers are predicting an increase in blooms of toxic blue-green algae and subsequent poisoning incidences in South Africa in the near future if current trends in climate change continue. This is due to warmer surface waters being conducive to the formation of these blooms.

Revamping SA's marine water quality guidelines for recreation South Africa is revising its recreational water quality guidelines and the Department of Environmental Affairs has commissioned the CSIR to assist in this process. The aim is to bring the management of beaches in line with international best practice while taking the country's unique geographic position and demographics into account.

Space technology

CSIR receives video stream from SumbandilaSAT On 13 October 2009 the CSIR Satellite Applications Centre received a video stream from South Africa's very own, recently launched satellite, SumbandilaSAT or ZA002. This milestone followed the launch of the satellite on 17 September 2009 and its successful transfer into orbit around the Earth.

Celebrating World Space Week throughout South Africa Innovation and loads of enthusiasm on the part of CSIR's World Space Week 2009 (WSW 2009) teams ensured that learners throughout South Africa were able to experience the excitement of discovering more about space science and technology.