The Durban University of Technology Department of Analytical Chemistry students’ scooped top awards at the 2017 South African Chemical Institute (SACI) Bachelor of Technology (Btech)/Honours symposium held at Ritson Campus Hotel School last Friday (20 October 2017).
The symposium was geared towards postgraduate students in the field of chemistry and included insightful discussions from experts and academics. Selected students from DUT Department of Analytical Chemistry together with their counterparts in the region and at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, University of Zululand, Mangosuthu University of Technology convened in one venue discussing all matters related to chemistry.
Invited students were tasked with presenting their Btech or Honours research projects and have it critiqued by a panel of judges. DUT was represented by Selene Naidoo who took 1st Prize for poster presentation on her study titled “A Quantitative Determination of the amount of sugar in fruit jams produced in South Africa” and Derric Buruani also a Btech student at DUT took 3rd place for oral presentation.
Buruani who hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo – Kinshasa presented his research project themed: “ Enantioselective detection of L-/D-tyrosine using Glassy Carbon Electrode (GCE) functionalized with graphene oxide (GO), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and human serum albumin (HSA), by electrochemical methods” aimed at early detection of cancer.
“I am researching about a compound found in milk known as tyrosine. If your body does not manage it you can suffer from stroke. My objective is to find a way to detect tyrosine so that cancer can be detected early leading to early treatment,” explained Buruani.
The symposium was organized jointly by Durban University of Technology and the South African Chemical Institute (SACI).
Pictured: Selene Naidoo who scooped 1st Prize for her poster presentation during the 2017 Honours/Btech Sympoisum held at DUT. She receives her award from SACI President Professor Vincent Nyamori.
Sandile Motha
