Rachel Chikwamba

Last updated

Rachel K Chikwamba
Born1967
Nationality Zimbabwe
South Africa
Alma materBSc University of Zimbabwe
MSc University of Queensland
PhD Iowa State University
MBA University of Pretoria [1]
Scientific career
Fields Plant genetics
Institutions Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
University of Pretoria
Thesis Maize as production and delivery vehicle of edible vaccines against the enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and the swine transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE)  (2002)
Doctoral advisor Kan Wang

Rachel Kerina Chikwamba is a Zimbabwean plant geneticist born in 1967. She is in the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Group Executive: Strategic Alliances and Communication. She is an active member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. [2]

Research and career

Chikwamba obtained an undergraduate degree in Crop Science from the University of Zimbabwe, and later graduated from the University of Queensland with a Master's degree. In 2002, she obtained her PhD in genetics from Iowa State University, with a dissertation exploring the production of novel proteins in plants. [3] [4] She then worked as a post-doctoral research associate at Arizona State University's Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccinology within the Biodesign Institute. [5] [3] There, her research focused on the expression and assembly of plant proteins. [3] Chikwamba also holds an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria. [6]

Chikwamba's research involves plant manufactured pharmaceuticals and metabolic engineering. [5] [7] [3] Using mainly sorghum, maize and banana, she explores three main research avenues: improving the nutritional quality of food crops; using plants to produce biomolecules of pharmaceutical interest; and investigating biochemical pathways of indigenous plants with medicinal value. [3]

Chikwamba chairs the board of the Applied Centre for Climate and Earth Systems Science (ACCESS). [5] She has worked at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) since 2004, in various capacities. She helped develop the Health Research Impact Area strategy, and served two terms on the CSIR's Strategic Research Panel. [5] As Chief Researcher and Competence Area Manager at CSIR Biosciences, she facilitated major global partnerships for CSIR, and was the lead for the African Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) project, which aim to produce nutritionally fortified sorghum, focusing on pro-vitamin A, protein quality and mineral bioavailability. [7] As a principal investigator for CSIR, she led a number of both internationally and locally funded projects including European Union Framework projects, the Gates Grand Challenge on nutritional fortification, the GreenPharm initiative (which aims to make antibody therapeutics using plant-based technology), and New Partnership for Africa's Development/Biofisa projects. [5] Chikwamba was on the team which produced RabiVir, an antibody treatment made from plant leaves to treat rabies. [8]

In October 2011, she was made CSIR Group Executive: Strategic Alliances and Communication, and in this capacity she managed partnerships, stakeholder interactions, and associated communication. [5] [9] She also held the position of CSIR Group Executive: Chemicals, Agriculture, Food and Health. [6] [10] In late 2019, Chikwamba was elected the Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), but for personal reasons did not take up the position. [11]

During her career, Chikwamba was also a lecturer with the University of Pretoria's Departments of Plant Science, of Botany, and of Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI). [5] [3] In this capacity, she leads a program to genetically improve banana and maize crops. [3] She was made an Honorary Research Fellow at St George’s Hospital at the University of London. [5] [7]

Additionally, has been, or is currently serving on the African Union high-level committee on Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (STISA 2024), on the board of the South African Medical Research Council, [12] on the African Union's High Level African Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET), [6] [13] on the Global Governing Board of ICRISAT, and on the Board of Directors of the Wits Health Consortium. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genetically modified maize</span> Genetically modified crop

Genetically modified maize (corn) is a genetically modified crop. Specific maize strains have been genetically engineered to express agriculturally-desirable traits, including resistance to pests and to herbicides. Maize strains with both traits are now in use in multiple countries. GM maize has also caused controversy with respect to possible health effects, impact on other insects and impact on other plants via gene flow. One strain, called Starlink, was approved only for animal feed in the US but was found in food, leading to a series of recalls starting in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millet</span> Group of grasses (food grain)

Millets are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finger millet</span> Species of grass

Finger millet is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating species probably evolved from its wild relative Eleusine africana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweet sorghum</span> Any of the varieties of the sorghum plant with a high sugar content

Sweet sorghum or sorgo is any of the many varieties of the sorghum grass whose stalks have a high sugar content. Sweet sorghum thrives better under drier and warmer conditions than many other crops and is grown primarily for forage, silage, and syrup production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics</span> International research organization

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international organisation which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, with several regional centres and research stations . It was founded in 1972 by a consortium of organisations convened by the Ford- and the Rockefeller- foundations. Its charter was signed by the FAO and the UNDP.

The Southern Education and Research Alliance (SERA), founded in 1999, is a strategic alliance formed between the University of Pretoria and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The alliance collaborates locally and internationally with universities, NGO's, companies and multinational bodies in various research areas. Sera has a 50% shareholding in the Innovation Hub, a fully accredited technology park situated on 60 hectares of the university's experimental farm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sorghum</span> Species of grain

Sorghum bicolor, commonly called sorghum and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the grass genus Sorghum cultivated for its grain. The grain is used for food for humans; the plant is used for animal feed and ethanol production. Sorghum originated in Africa, and is now cultivated widely in tropical and subtropical regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajeev Kumar Varshney</span> Indian geneticist (born 1973)

Rajeev Kumar Varshney is an Indian agricultural scientist, specializing in genomics, genetics, molecular breeding and capacity building in developing countries. Varshney is currently serving as Director, Western Australian State Agricultural Biotechnology Center; Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security with the Food Futures Institute at Murdoch University, Australia since Feb 2022. Before joining Murdoch University, Australia he served International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a global agriculture R&D institute, for more than 16 years in different scientific and research leadership roles including Research Program Director for three global research programs– Grain Legumes, Genetic Gains and Accelerated Crop Improvement Program. He has the onus of establishing and nurturing the Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology (CEGSB), a globally recognized center for genomics research at ICRISAT that made impacts on improving agriculture and development of human resources in several countries including India, China, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, etc. Varshney holds Adjunct/Honorary/Visiting Professor positions at 10 academic institutions in Australia, China, Ghana, Hong Kong and India, including The University of Western Australia, University of Queensland, West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement, University of Hyderabad, Chaudhary Charan Singh University and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University.

Telangana has multiple institutes of higher education universities along with numerous primary and secondary schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staple food</span> Food that is eaten routinely and considered a dominant portion of a standard diet

A staple food, food staple, or simply staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for an individual or a population group, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and generally forming a significant proportion of the intake of other nutrients as well. For humans, a staple food of a specific society may be eaten as often as every day or every meal, and most people live on a diet based on just a small variety of food staples. Specific staples vary from place to place, but typically are inexpensive or readily available foods that supply one or more of the macronutrients and micronutrients needed for survival and health: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins. Typical examples include grains, seeds, nuts and root vegetables. Among them, cereals, legumes and tubers account for about 90% of the world's food calorie intake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pigeon pea</span> Species of perennial legume

The pigeon pea or toor dal is a perennial legume from the family Fabaceae native to the Eastern Hemisphere. The pigeon pea is widely cultivated in tropical and semitropical regions around the world, being commonly consumed in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Vishweshwaraiah Prakash is an Indian structural biologist, food technologist and a former director-general designate of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He is a former director of the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore and was involved with the International Union of Food Science and Technology as the chairman of its International Academy during 2008-10. He received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the highest Indian award in the science and technology category in 1996. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2004,

Sorghum is an important staple crop for more than 500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, including many people in Nepal. In statistics collected from 1992 to 1994 about general millet, Nepal had an area of 0.21 million ha, with a yield rate of 1.14 (t/ha), and produced around 0.24 million tons of sorghum. The entirety of the crop is highly valued, with both the grain and the stem being utilized. The Terai region of Nepal tends to be more tropical which is ideal for the growth of sorghum. It tolerates hot climates better than maize or soybeans. For subsistence farmers, like those in Nepal, fertilizers are not necessary and the crop is frequently harvested by hand.

Joseph H. Hulse (1923–2013) was a Canadian biochemist, food technologist, writer, and the president of the International Union of Food Science and Technology. He chaired the Committee of the Canadian chapter of the Freedom From Hunger, presided over the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology and was the assistant director of nutrition at the Food and Agriculture Organization, besides serving as the vice president of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). He was the author of several texts and monographs on nutrition and allied sciences, including a 991-page treatise, Sorghum and the Millets: Their Composition and Nutritive Value. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for his contributions to Science and for his humanitarian activities in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Abukutsa-Onyango</span> Kenyan agricultural scientist

Mary Oyiela Abukutsa-Onyango is a humanitarian and agricultural scientist from Kenya who specializes in olericulture, agronomy, plant physiology. Abukutsa-Onyango is a professor of horticulture at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology whose work focuses on African indigenous food crops. Abukutsa Onyango has studied how African indigenous vegetables can be used to combat malnutrition in Africa while maintaining a secure form of revenue even during more challenging weather and climate.

Mary Mgonja, is a Tanzanian agricultural scientist and plant breeder, who works as the director for technology and communication at Namburi Agricultural Company Limited, a private Tanzanian agricultural enterprise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igle Gledhill</span> South African scientist

Irvy (Igle) Gledhill is a South African physicist at the University of Witwatersrand, School of Mechanical, Industrial & Aeronautical Engineering, in Johannesburg.

References

  1. ↑ "Africa Scientist". hub.africabiosciences.org. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "Members". www.assaf.org.za. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Dr Rachel Chikwamba | ACGT". www.acgt.co.za. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  4. ↑ Chikwamba, Rachel Kerina (2002). Maize as production and delivery vehicle of edible vaccines against the enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and the swine transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) (Thesis). Iowa State University. doi: 10.31274/rtd-180813-926 .
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Dr Rachel Chikwamba (Chair of the ACCESS Board) | ACCESS". www.access.ac.za. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 "Dr R K Chikwamba" (PDF).
  7. 1 2 3 "Rachel Chikwamba | Our Members | Global HealthShare Initiative". ghs.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  8. ↑ "How tobacco could save your life". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  9. ↑ "Dr Rachel Chikwamba". BizNis Africa. 12 February 2015.
  10. ↑ "Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - Management". nationalgovernment.co.za. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  11. ↑ "Happening November 2019 – ICRISAT". www.icrisat.org. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  12. ↑ "Dr Rachel Chikwamba to serve on African Union panel and Medical Research Board | CSIR". www.csir.co.za. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  13. ↑ "African Union Commission appoints High Level African Panel on Emerging Technologies | AUDA-NEPAD". www.nepad.org. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  14. ↑ "Dr Rachel Chikwamba, board member" (PDF).
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