Sudanese Wins L’Oréal-UNESCO Award For Research Excellence
24 January, 2021
Cape Town, South Africa (Sudanow) - Sudanese PhD candidate Doaa Ali from the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, has been honoured for research excellence by the prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Sub-Saharan Africa programme.
According to UCT website Doaa was chosen from a pool of nearly 330 applicants to receive this year’s Young Talent Awards, along with 19 other talented young African women researchers.
The Women in Science Sub-Saharan Africa regional programme, a joint initiative by L’Oréal and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), was launched in 2010 to promote and encourage the participation of young African women in science.
Every year, 20 recipients are supported to pursue their research through grants of €10 000 (R180 000) for PhD students and €15 000 (R270 000) for postdoctorates.
Ali, a PhD candidate in UCT’s Department of Chemistry, is working on the development of new cancer treatments using groundbreaking synthesis methodology, which is based on garlic-like compounds. Garlic is well known as a medicinal plant that has been used in folk medicine since early times for its beneficial health effects, which include protection against cancer.
From 2017 to 2018 Ali developed the new synthesis methodology for accessing specific chemical constituents in garlic. Her research was published in the prestigious Journal of Organic Chemistry in early 2019.
She and her colleagues have used this method, which is extremely fast – complete within a minute – to further develop an understanding of the design of superior and novel active anti-cancer agents.
She said the award has given her “the confidence to dream about what might be possible in Africa, my beloved continent”.
“I am much more secure now in believing that I can go on from here and run an independent research group within the continent,” she said.
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