Nawahl Razak has a penchant for risk taking.

Known for having run various small businesses during her spare time, Razak, who is a laboratory technician in the Department of Maths and Physics, recently took on her biggest venture and turned a homemade recipe into a business.

Razak is the brains behind the Milk Nut Company, a startup specializing in the manufacture of vegan milk products.

“I started creating milk for myself and then began reading about vegan milk options. The more I read the more recipes I tried,” she says.

Relying on her physics knowledge, Razak perfected her recipes, producing two vegan milk products, one from oats and the other from peanuts. Both products are manufactured using fewer additives and processes, are low in calories, has high amounts of healthy fiber and contains decent amounts of iron and calcium.

With a growing trend of people opting to purchase products directly from local producers, Razak is positive that her products will fill a gap in the market.

“People are supporting small business owners because they want to know exactly what their products are made of,” she says.

Razak is now looking at expanding her product range and is currently being supported by the Agrifood Technology Station, a CPUT based specialized unit that provides a range of innovative services to support small, medium and micro-sized enterprises operating in South Africa’s food sector.

Razak says while it has been an exciting journey, innovation is not easy, neither is running a business.

“It’s up to me to keep pushing and to make a success out of this venture. You have to take a risk and follow it through.”

*To find out more about the product please mail Razak at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  

Written by Candes Keating
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

CPUT is extending its global network of partners, thanks to the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility programme.

Over the next five-years, CPUT and the Yildiz Technical University (YTU) in Turkey will participate in a mobility agreement, which is earmarked to strengthen and expand research and innovation in the fields of Substation Automation and Energy Management Systems and Control Systems Engineering.

The Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility programme facilities and funds short term mobility projects for staff and students from European and selected countries elsewhere in the world. The programme ties in with CPUT’s Internationalization Strategy, by promoting international ties between institutions and creating opportunities for professional development, for both staff and students.

As part of the agreement, CPUT’s Centre for Substation Automation and Energy Management Systems (CSAEMS) and YTU’s Departments of Control and Automation Engineering and Electrical Engineering will embark on a program of student and staff exchange.

CPUT researcher, Carl Kriger, who is the Erasmus+ Credit Mobility Programme coordinator for the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, says they are looking forward to the collaboration with YTU, which is a dedicated engineering sciences institution and one of the most prominent higher educational institutions in Istanbul, Turkey.

Kriger says over the next five years CPUT students following courses in electrical, electronic and computer engineering will have the opportunity to complete courses at YTU, which are not available for offering in South Africa. Researchers will also have the opportunity to spend up to two months at YTU and work alongside their counterparts.

Prof Seref Naci Engin, head of the Control and Automation Engineering Department in the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics at the YTU, says the programme will commence next term with two CPUT doctoral students expected to spend a semester in Turkey, while three doctoral students from YTU will conduct research and training at CPUT.

Engin, who recently visited the Bellville Campus with a delegation from the Turkey based institution, says there are already numerous existing projects the two institutions can collaborate on.

“We would also like to start new research projects, with the goal of producing research publications,” he says.

Engin, who collaborated with CPUT in 2008 on a National Research Foundation-funded research project, says he hopes that they will be able to extend this agreement.

Written by Candes Keating
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

With millions of new cases of cancer reported each year, researchers across the globe are working tirelessly to develop new and smarter ways to fight cancer.

One such is CPUT’s Dr Stefan Abel, whose groundbreaking research in the field of chemoprevention has recently earned him a coveted National Research Foundation (NRF) rating. Abel is the latest researcher at CPUT to be awarded this accolade and joins a growing list of NRF rated researchers at the university.

Based in the Institute of Biomedical and Microbial Biotechnology, Abel currently heads the institute’s Chemoprevention Research Group, which is located at the Tygerberg Hospital. The group’s emphasizes of chemoprevention research focuses on South African herbal teas, such as rooibos, and dietary unsaturated fatty acids, such as omega-3, which can influence the physical and biological cellular responses that are significant during carcinogenesis (cancer development).

While cancer remains a daunting public health challenge, Abel says he has never regretted his decision to pursue this area of research.

His springboard into this field was in 1992 when he joined the Medical Research Council and was tasked with investigating the role of fatty acids in cancer development and chemopreventive properties of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA).

More than two decades later, Abel has established himself as a leading researcher in his field, having published 34 scientific publications and four book chapters, along with 55 national conference presentations, close to 40 international conference presentations and numerous articles in local and internal magazines and specialized publications.

Abel says his research work is focused on characterizing the pattern of lipid alterations in cancer tissue, which creates an environment for the promotion and survival of cancer cells.

“The research I have conducted has provided further insight into the complex lipid alterations occurring in cancer development, with the aim of defining and optimising specific fatty acids to be used as chemopreventive agents,” he says.

Through dietary manipulation, which is largely based on specific fatty acids, such as omega-3, Abel and his team of researchers hope to stunt the growth of these cells.

“The link between nutrition and chemoprevention is of particular relevance, which is reflected by the inclusion of a nutritional aspect to my research focus, besides chemoprevention which it compliments. Therefore, my research activities have grown to reflect this by incorporating relevant studies with the aim to implement them in a chemoprevention strategy.”

Abel says the core research over the last eight years has remained the same, with the main objective to investigate the role of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in cancer development in humans, utilising animal cancer models and cell culture. Past research involved liver and colon cancer, while future studies will also include prostate cancer.

Written by Candes Keating
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

Do you want to surf the waves, save the environment or summit a mountain, then CPUT’s Department of Student Affairs can help you. The department offers a wide range of sporting and cultural activities.

Sports

From athletics to judo and chess, students have access to more than 20 competitive sporting codes, with each boasting an excellent performance record. CPUT students annually participate in national and international events, with some having competed against the world’s top sports people at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. This February CPUT’s rugby team will make their debut in the Varsity Shield.

• To view the list of sporting codes see: http://www.cput.ac.za/student/sport/
• For those who just want to have fun, there are various recreational sport codes offered at CPUT.

For more information contact:

Cape Town Campus
Railien Neilson
Tel: +27 21 460 3844 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Wellington Campus
Bulelani Mlakalaka
Tel: +27 21 864 5247/ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Bellville Campus
Shela Lekalakala
Tel: +27 21 959 6377/ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Student Development

In addition to academic skills, CPUT is focused on developing well-rounded graduates. To reach this goal, the university offers a range of programmes, events, activities and clubs that are aimed a developing responsible and compassionate citizens who are equipped with important skills such as leadership and teamwork. Some of the activities include:

• Environmental awareness activities
• Community outreach programmes
• Adventure-related experiential learning, e.g. hikes

For more information contact:

Anette Grobler
Email:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Melani-Ann Hara
Tel: +27 21 959 6010 /This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

For an overview of the various activities, see: http://www.cput.ac.za/students/life/development

Written by Candes Keating
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.