Human health and social work activities

This invention pertains to a method for chemically synthesising novel classes of silver complexes that target specific forms of cancer with demonstrable anticancer activity in cell culture (in vitro). Most noteworthy is thus far, these complexes have better preliminary results than standard...

Diagnosis of a disease typically includes testing of patient samples on an appropriate diagnostic platform, and it is necessary to perform proficiency testing of these platforms regularly, so as to assure the accuracy of the results,  Professor Kana and his team at Wits have developed proficiency...

Treating relatively fine bone fractures is challenging, as mechanisms to promote and correct bone growth used in large fractures are not suitable. Wits researchers have developed an injectable compound which is liquid at room temperature and becomes solid at body temperature that meets this need. It...

Wits researchers have developed a compound for the treatment of age-related diseases, such as cancer and cellular ageing. The compound occurs naturally in the body, and reduces the effects of telomerase activity in cells in a manner that prevents ageing of the cells. The compound, a protein fragment...

Wits researchers have developed a kit for diagnosing cancer by detecting telomerase activity in cells using functionalized gold nanoparticles. The Ageing Related Disease Diagnostic (ARDD) telomerase assay will ultimately be easier to use, have a potentially longer shelf-life, and avoid the...

Surfactants are amphipathic molecules with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties that partition preferentially at the interface between fluid phases such as oil/water or air/water interfaces. Such characteristics confer excellent detergency, emulsifying, foaming, and dispersing traits, which...

The collection and preservation of biological material for further DNA and RNA analysis are critical to many biomedical fields, from medical diagnostics to forensics and biodiversity conservation.

The Forensic DNA lab at the University of the Western Cape has developed a novel, proprietary DNA...