Channel: SABC News clear
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| 1 | SABC News | Discussion | Stem Cell Reprogramming with Dimakatso Gumede | 780 | 17 | 51.1 | 6:45 | is women's month. So let's celebrate some unbelievable women. Now only a handful of people in South Africa have mastered stem cell reprogramming and even fewer women in this field. My next guest is one of them. 34-year-old Dimarchate Gumeire has studied the role of gene mutation that causes skin and lung fibrosis using a scientific method called induced pluripotent stem cells. She currently works at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research as a CSIR and is here in studio with us. It is so good to see you and welcome to Morning Life. Thank you so much for having me. Congratulations on the work that you're doing but I have to confess upfront I have no idea what it's all about. It's not my fault. It is not my fault. Talk to me. What does it all mean? Our bluripotent stem cells are actually cells that can become any cell type in the body and mainly they've been known to form a human being or any animal which are embryonic stem cells but their scientists have actually made breakthroughs in creating induced bribotent stem cells from adult cells. So you can take a skin cell and turn it back into an embryonic like cell that can become any cell type in the body. It's quite incredible actually and I mean this this form of technology, this form of stem cell reprogramming is massive and I think this is a glimpse into can I say into the future where is it already happening in a big way now? It's happening in a big way but still also in phases where we are trying to make sure that anything that we do does an effect human beings in the long run they are no adverse side effects as we go on with it with the research. So before we get a little bit more technical about it I mean what attracted you to this? Tell us a little bit more about yourself. I'm a UCT student, PhD scholar currently waiting for my results. This is PhD results to come through but it attracted me because of my supervisor that it was Professor Bunganima Yosey and he's been working on families, South African families that have a regenerative disorder but that regenerative disorder is multi-fectoral that it affects the lungs and affects the skin and affects the muscle. So the whole technology of stem cells is that we can make stem cells to any cell that we want to study and if we want to study lung fibrosis for example that we can turn those cells into lung cells, L we can tend them into skin cells or even muscle cells so that's what attracted me to it. That is I mean it's incredible this is it's phenomenal work and that's actually the that was the basis of your thesis as well. You say you're waiting for your results to come through our world. Good luck for that I hope it goes well. But I mean this is something very important. I mean can you can you give us a little bit more? I mean how does that change the way we are and operate and how things are studied going forward? What we're doing actually is to create cellular models to study specific diseases. For example in our lab at the CSIR we are using stem cells to make liver cells to study how adverse drug reactions are happening in the African population because they have such a diverse genetic variation. So that helps us to look at the drugs or study different kinds of drugs and see which ones cause liver toxicity in African individuals and that we can actually recommend or propose that recommended doses which will help those individuals and also assist us while into which drugs to avoid for people who have those variations that have them to not respond well to the different drugs. Now I think what is so great I mean you I'm conducting this interview in English I think I understand English quite well but anybody who doesn't understand English I mean this must be listening to your worst nightmare come true but the most amazing thing with you is that you communicating in Isisulu, Isisulu and I think those are the two languages. Yeah I'm going to language it's a story. And that is incredible because to try and take all of that and make it more understandable for the large community is huge how are you going about doing that? That I have to say that it helps to do Sissoto in as a first language in high school because we know that due to our history you know most of the schools still have English as a first language you know and I think it's a really a good idea to have students and have people learn the native languages in that way they will help to communicate even to their grandparents and their parents about science because really we have to communicate science to every South African in order to understand what we're doing as scientists and medical practitioners. It is so important that I'm so glad that you're doing that because I mean it really as I said up front even for me listening to this in English is kind of as I said you know this is difficult for me to understand but imagine not even speaking English and having to try and understand that and so I am so so glad you're doing this but in terms of of black females in this profession are there many are you breaking down walls and and sort of creating opportunities where they were none before? We have to there haven't been a lot of women getting into science and because science have been mystified in such a way that you know it's too hard mathematics is not easy to understand physics and biology are not easy to understand but it's time to break down all those demystifying the science itself and I'm hoping that there are women who are getting there and I was very fortunate to be mentored by females as well who encouraged me to say you can do it you know if you put your mind into it you can do it and you can learn it you can understand and they made it so exciting and so fun to learn and enjoy and some here that is amazing we are so proud of you and you just keep on doing whatever you're doing and breaking down barriers and shattering glass ceilings and all of those predictive terms that we all use during this month but we genuinely mean it and you're shining like for us thank you for coming to talk thank you very much so nice um democratic remit she's only a handful of people in South Africa and I think I might be as bold as to say on the continent actually not necessarily just in in South Africa who have mastered stem cell reprogramming all right we're going to take a break here on the program sports news after let's do stay tuned | ↗ |