CPUT is home to leading academics s who are making huge contributions to research.

One such academic is Prof Tandi Matsha, who is the founder and lead researcher at the Cardiometabolic Health Research Unit, which is based at the Bellville Campus.

Matsha, who is also the head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, is renowned for her work in the field of genetic and environmental risk factors in obesity related diseases. 

CPUT news caught up with her as part of our Extraordinary Women series in honor of Women’s Month.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy facilitating and being part of the process of empowering others to succeed.

I also enjoy encouraging others to push themselves to do things that they thought were impossible for them to achieve… and the smile that comes with that is the cherry on top.

Can you point out a career highlight?

In my line of work the obvious highlights, to name a few, would be publications, award of research grants, NRF rating, recognition by my peers in the form of either being invited to review manuscripts or invited to give a plenary session, as well seeing my students to graduation.

However, the major highlights of my career are seeing those that I have guided become successful in their own right. Just recently, my doctoral candidate, who was also my undergrad and master’s student, was selected for a post-doctoral fellowship at Cambridge, London.

What do you attribute your success to?

Success was never my goal. The reason I am here today is because I realised my potential and I did not want it to just remain a potential. I wanted my potential to be made into something tangible. I wanted to take that potential and make it kinetic.

The ability to overcome diversity, the determination to stand for my beliefs coupled with instilled values of Ubuntu have made it possible for me to focus and achieve my objectives.  I am also inspired by my children to succeed and I believe that through my example, they too will find their own success.

Most importantly, I attribute my achievements to the strong belief that whatever stage I am in my life, that is where God wants me to be. Sometimes it’s not what I desire, but that makes it easy to accept.

Do you have any words of advice for the generation of women behind you?

Do not let go of the qualities that make you a woman when you enter the workplace. Those qualities are what make you unique and are needed for your progression in society.

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

Results of a South African study conducted by a group of investigators from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Stellenbosch University (SU) and the US National Institute of Health (NIH) have demonstrated for the first time in an African population, the added value of combining glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and glycated albumin (GA) to diagnose dysglycemia, the combination diabetes mellitus and pre-diabetes. 

Diabetes mellitus, which is a condition characterised by chronic elevation of blood sugar, is a fast-growing disease worldwide, and much so in countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where the number of people with diabetes is estimated to increase by 134% from 24 million in 2021 to 55 million by 2045, according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) South Africa (4.2 million), Nigeria (3.6 million), Tanzania (2.9 million), Ethiopia (1.9 million), and Democratic Republic of Congo (1.9 million) are currently the top five SSA countries for the number of people with diabetes. Diabetes in SSA is further characterised by the low detection rates, with about 54% of SSA people with diabetes being unaware of their condition, against 44.7% at the global level.

The low diabetes detection rate in Africa is explained by several factors, including the lack of screening programs, the low prioritisation of large segments of the population (young adults and non-obese people) for diabetes screening where programs are available, and the lack of accurate and practical diagnostic approaches.

In this first detailed study in an African population, the investigators used data from nearly 1 300 adult mixed-ancestry South Africans residing in Cape Town to examine the ability of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and glycated albumin (GA) in combination to diagnose diabetes or dysglycemia. HbA1c and GA are tests used to monitor blood sugar control in response to treatment in people with diabetes. Still, they have also been proposed for diabetes diagnosis, although not yet widely adopted in African settings due to their variable performance.

 “In mixed-ancestry, South Africa, HbA1c and GA levels varied in opposite directions with increasing levels of adiposity as measured by the body mass index (BMI). Consequently, combining the two tests improved the detection of dysglycemia above and beyond the achievements of each test taken separately. This improvement was observed across all levels of BM,” says Professor Andre Pascal Kengne, the lead author of the publication and Director of the Non-Communicable Diseases Research Unit (NCDRU) at the SAMRC.

Unlike other diagnostic tests for diabetes, HbA1c and GA do not require fasting. “These findings in mixed-ancestry South Africans are in line with results from our previous studies in African-born Blacks living in America, which have shown that combining HbA1c and GA improves dysglycemia diagnosis, particularly in individuals who are non-obese,” says Dr. Anne E. Sumner, senior author on the paper and Senior Investigator in the Section on Ethnicity and Health, Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. “This study suggests an approach that can be operationalised and incorporated into existing screening programs for diabetes in African settings,” adds Dr. Sumner.

Data used for the current study are from the Cape Town Vascular and Metabolic Health (VMH) project, an extension of the Bellville South research programme initiated in Cape Town in 2008. “These new findings are a handy addition to our efforts to improve the understanding, prevention, detection and control of common cardiometabolic diseases in mixed-ancestry South Africans and other African populations over the last two decades” says Prof Tandi E Matsha, co-lead author of the paper, Principal investigator of the VMH project, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Wellness at CPUT, and Director of SAMRC/CPUT Extra-mural Cardiometabolic Health Research unit.

“Population-based screening for common chronic infectious diseases such as HIV infection is already taking place across Africa using minimally invasive blood sample collection”, note the investigators. “Adding HbA1c and GA to these programs provides an opportunity to co-screen people for dysglycemia’ they conclude. HbA1c is already available as a point-of-care test, and a similar approach can be developed for GA.

*The study was published in clinical medicine, a Journal of The Lancet group, with the title “Combining HbA1c and glycated albumin improves detection of dysglycemia in mix-ancestry South Africans”; and is fully accessible here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(22)00173-0/fulltext

Written by SAMRC

The South African Medical Research Council/ CPUT/Cardiometabolic Health Research Unit will host its 1st Annual International Cardiometabolic Health and Diabetes Africa Congress next month.

The theme of the congress, which will be held virtually from 22 to 25 February, is Personalised Medicine.

The conference will provide a forum to discuss novel and emerging methodologies for preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and complications associated with these diseases, such as kidney and liver disease.

It will also include conversations about discovering novel biomarkers and potential treatment options involving personalised or alternative medicine. Several workshops are planned to bring together policymakers, academics, and emerging researchers to share their views on how we can effectively stop the upward trend leading to the rising prevalence of these conditions.

The congress will feature 39 international speakers and 12 South African speakers.

The unit’s Saarah Davids said staff members, researchers, students and postdoctoral fellows could participate by submitting either an abstract or participating in the youth forum as follows:

Abstracts:

• When submitting an abstract, it could be selected for poster or oral presentation. The programme is designed so that staff, researchers, students, and postdoctoral fellows would present with presenters in themed slots to gain experience and learn from experienced researchers in the same field.
• The criteria, template and other information, can be found at the following link: https://www.cmhcongress.org/main-program-criteria.html
• Closing date 31 January 2022

Youth forum:

• Those who are staff, researchers, postgraduate students, or postdoctoral fellows under the age of 40 who would want to present ideas for future projects. This will allow those presenting to get feedback from other young researchers and possibly aid in future collaboration
• The criteria, template and other information can be found at: https://www.cmhcongress.org/youth-forum-criteria.html
• Closing date 31 January 2022

Prof Thandi Matsha, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, is the chair of the congress organising committee.

Written by Ilse Fredericks

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