Formerly supported networks in chemistry

Reg/Asia - Regional Cooperation in Asia

The project was initiated by ISP Chemistry in 1981 as a part of the regional exchange of scientists. Department of Chemistry at Mahidol University in Thailand was utilised as a host laboratory for scientists and students from University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka) and University of Dhaka (Bangladesh) for research and research training. Coordinator of the network was Professor Vichai Reutrakul at Mahidol University, Thailand.

The major research and research training programme were in bioactive natural products especially those with anti-inflammatory, antidiabetics, cytotoxic and anti-HIV activities. The natural resources utilised were mainly plants from tropical rain forest.

The special features of the project were the access to an array of chemical instrumentation at Mahidol University and to bioassay facilities established at Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM) and at Mahidol University. Scientists and students involved in the program got experience of both chemical sciences and relevant biomedical science disciplines.

ISP supported the network between 1981 and 2003.

Cassava Safety Network - Africa (supported 1993-2001)

The Cassava Safety Network was supported by ISP between 1993 and 2001. Coordinator was late Professor Hans Rosling, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.

The aim of the network was to:

Enable promotion of safe use of cassava among famine threatened population in Africa.
Train scientists in cassava growing countries in chemical sciences related to cyanogenesis.

Background

Of all staple crops cassava is the most efficient converter of solar to dietary energy. Due to its high yields and drought tolerance, cassava roots are the main staple food for about 400 million people, half of whom live in Africa. This may seem surprising knowing that the levels of cyanogenic glucosides in roots from many varieties are so high that one fresh root alone may yield enough cyanide to kill a family within an hour of consumption. Several human diseases have been attributed to acute and chronic effects of cassava cyanogenesis, but these diseases are relatively rare in relation to the wide consumption of toxic roots. Due to insufficient understanding of the chemical mechanisms involved cassava toxicity is a matter of confusion for plant breeding, rural development and public health.

The network showed that toxic effects like acute poisoning and the paralytic disease konzo, occur when food shortage makes women short-cut traditional processing.

The network performed a series of studies using a multidisplinary approach that included farmer interviews, agronomic measurements, chemical analysis, and the use of molecular markers for genetic characterisation of cassava plant materials collected in field surveys.

Examples of sub-projects and their achievements are:

The subproject 1 on cyanogenesis in cassava breeding, compiled a very extensive data comprising information on DNA finger printing, soil analysis and interviews with farmers about preferred characteristics of cultivars. Surprisingly it showed that the farmers are better in classifying genotypes than are botanists when compared with DNA fingerprint as gold standard. It was also found that cool and bitter cassava cultivators may be a result of different domestications or at least from a very early separation, maybe before transferred to Africa centuries ago. This subproject resulted in a PhD degree (Jonathan Mkumbira) and was converted to the ISP-supported research group IPICS MAW:01 in Malawi, in 2002. Another spin-off from the subproject was the ISP-supported network MOLCAS.
Subproject 2 on cassava safety in Nigeria revealed that the Tropical Ataxic neuropathy exist in almost as high prevalence now as three decades ago. This was news at the time and was accepted in major neurological journals. A higher-than-expected cyanide exposure from cassava was verified and published. The reason was identified as culinary practices that result in low pH that stabilise cyanohydrins. The studies thus revealed that reasons other than poverty may result in cyanide exposure from cassava that may not be healthy. The neurotoxicological studies continued with neurophysiological characterisation of the neuropathy found in Nigeria. This subproject was converted to IPICS NIG:02 in 2002. Two PhD degrees were awarded, one in 2001 (Adeyinka Onabolu) and one in 2002 (Steven Oluwole).
Subproject 3 on neurotoxicity of konzo in DR Congo (then Zaire) was on similar neurotoxicological characterisation of the disease with neurophysiology and this improved the understanding of causes in ways that facilitated prevention. The subproject resulted in a PhD degree in 2001 (Desiré Tshala Katumbay).

LANBIO - Latin American Network for Research in Bioactive Natural Compounds

The network LANBIO was conceived in 1991 as a coordination of natural products researchers (chemists, biochemists, biologists, etc.) sharing knowledge and laboratory facilities for the identification and characterisation of biologically active compounds isolated from regional natural sources. ISP support the network between 1991 and 2018. Coordinator was Professor Hermann M. Niemeyer at Department of Ecological Sciences, Universidad de Chile.

During its first years, LANBIO focused on student exchanges, training fellowships, support for core research groups, and funding for symposia and regional courses. However, limited funding, the broad continental scope of activities reduced the overall impact.

Consequently, LANBIO began to concentrate on two programmemes, Neurochemistry in Uruguay, and Ecological Chemistry at the Laboratory of Ecological Chemistry at Universidad de Chile (LEC-UCH). Funding focused on research-building efforts at a few designated centers.

The programmeme in Neurochemistry were concentrated to Cuba and Peru, and later new collaborations were started in Bolivia and Paraguay.
The Ecological Chemistry programmeme were focused to Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia at Lima, Peru, and later to Universidad Mayor de San Simón at Cochabamba, Bolivia, on the basis of their excellence in undergraduate training.

This country-focused approach proved successful. In Cuba, the Neurochemistry programmeme identified promising pharmacological compounds and attracted additional support from international agencies and industry. In Peru, trained fellows contributed to university teaching and graduate studies, leading to further initiatives such as the ISP-supported group IPICS PER02.

From 2009 ISP support to LANBIO was oriented exclusively to the Ecological Chemistry programme focused in Bolivia, due to the Sida regulations at that time.

NABSA - Network for Analytical and Bioassay Services in Africa

The network NABSA was founded in 1992. The purpose of NABSA was to assist African scientists by giving them access to the analytical and laboratory facilities and equipment, thus assisting scientists working in isolation and in various facility constrained institutions and less enabling environments in Africa. It provided free analytical chemical services and laboratory facilities, particularly in NMR and mass spectrometry, and should be seen as a Resaource Centre.

The network also hosted short-term research visits, organised regional symposia for chemistry post-graduate students, and offered CD-ROM literature services.

ISP supported the network between 1992-2018.

Background

NABSA was created because there was an urgent need to strengthen and support chemical science research in Africa. Universities and research institutes across Africa were encouraged to work together and share their limited resources to improve research. As a result, NABSA was established to promote cooperation among African researchers in the chemical sciences. Through this network, researchers could share the scarce equipment and facilities available at different institutions across the continent.

NABSA started in a modest way, with the centre at the Chemistry Department of the University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, with Professor B. M. Abegaz as the first Coordinator. The Chemistry Department at the University of Addis Ababa, to start with, offered the services of their 90 MHz NMR, optical rotation and infrared spectroscopic instruments to other research laboratories, while the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi, Kenya, offered to run MS and GC-MS services to needy researchers; and the University of Nairobi and the Institut Malagache de Recherches Appliquees in Madagascar, respectively, offered to provide mosquito larvicidal and antimalarial assays.

With the relocation of Professor Abegaz to the Chemistry Department at the University of Botswana in 1994, the Centre of NABSA moved to Gaborone, Botswana. From then on NABSA quickly expanded the scope of its services as the University of Botswana made available the services of its newly installed high-resolution NMR (300 and 600 MHz) and MS spectrometers.

The last coordinator was Dr Gomotsang Bojase Moleta at University of Botswana.

More information

Some of the nodes in the network were situated at:

University of Botswana (Botswana)
University of Yaoundé I (Cameroon)
University of Kinshasa (DR Congo)
University of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
University of Nairobi (Kenya)
University of Ibadan (Nigeria)
University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)
University of Zambia (Zambia)
University of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe)

LANFOOD - Latin American Network for Food Research

The aim of LANFOOD was to promote regional cooperation between research groups working in the field of food chemistry. ISP supported the network between 1994 and 2007. The network coordinator was Dr Jenny Ruales, Escuela Politécnica Nacional in Ecuador. She is an ISP PhD graduate.

LANFOOD had the following participating scientific nodes:

Argentina: Comisión de Energía Atómica
Argentina: Universidad de Buenos Aires
Chile: Universidad de la Frontera
Chile: Universidad Santiago de Chile (USACH)
Colombia: Universidad del Valle
Costa Rica: Instituto Costarricense de Investigación y Enseñanza en Nutrición y Salud, INCIENSA
Ecuador: Escuela Politécnica Nacional
Mexico: CEPROBI (Centro de Desarrollo de Productos Bióticos)
Peru: Universidad Adventista La Unión-Lima
Peru: Universidad Nacional la Molina

LANFOOD supported research activities and collaborative studies on carbohydrates (dietary fibre, starch) and activities related to the composition of food products. Bioavailability of nutrients and development of new products based on local raw materials was also of interest to LANFOOD.

Exchange of reference samples for proximate analysis, carbohydrates (dietary fibre, total starch, resistant starch and digestible starch), and minerals were done in collaboration with the network LATINFOODS which was co-sponsored by the UN.

Achievements

LANFOOD graduated 1 MSc student, published 27 scientific papers in international journals, 10 in regional journals, 1 in a national journal, and made 21 contributions to scientific conferences

The amount of funding allocated over the support period 1994 to 2007 was SEK 2 188 000.

More information

The collaborating activities decreased after ISP concluded support ended, much because the absence of funds for the mobility of the students and researchers, which was one of the important activities of LANFOOD. Some funding and relations were obtained with CYTED (Programmea iberoamericano de ciencia y tecnología para el desarrollo), and ISEKI-FOOD (European Association for Integrating Food Science and Engineering Knowledge into the Food Chain). The funds did not, however, fully satisfy the mobility needs of the network.

Complementary research work for the undergraduate and postgraduate students was continued for some time after ISP support at laboratories of the region, such as Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. In Ecuador, a PhD programmeme was established (see IPICS ECU01), but invited candidates from Peru and Colombia couldn’t follow the programmeme due to the lack of financial support. In conclusion, besides the node in Ecuador, very limited activities have continued in most other nodes, due to lack of funding.

A follow-up study from 2017 showed that the network was not functioning anymore and had not graduated any PhDs since the conclusion of ISP support. However, network members have published five papers in international scientific journals, and have made five contributions to regional scientific meetings.

SSN - Southern Summer School in Neurosciences

The School of Neuroscience (SSN) was an annual four-week training programme held every second year at Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas “Clemente Estable”, Montevideo, Uruguay. It attracted participants from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela, and stayed active a while after concluded ISP support.

Support was mainly provided from the American Society of Neuroscience and the Miledi Foundation (USA). In addition, the School of Neuroscience also has evolved into a Latin American School of Advanced Neurochemistry, funded by the International Society of Neurochemistry.

About 90 foreign professors and 200 students participated in the school during the time of ISP-support.

SARBIO - Southern African Regional Cooperation in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biotechnology

SARBIO was a regional Southern African network, which received ISP support between 1995 and 2010.

Network activities stopped progressing, so their application to ISP in 2010 was turned down by the ISP Chemistry´s Reference Group. SARBIO did not continue its activities after that.

SARBIO aimed at promoting links between scientists in the Southern African sub-continent and the rest of Africa and was last coordinated from Zimbabwe. Activities mainly focused on student and staff exchange between scientists at academic institutions in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Activities of the network faded, much because it was difficult to keep up as a center for networking activities in a situation with elevated political and economic instability in the countries.

A follow-up study from 2016 showed that the SARBIO members all moved on to new positions within their own institutions and efforts to continue networking were insufficient or lacking. Individuals engaged in SARBIO have, however, moved on to positions within Southern African Development Community and internationally, where they continue to contribute to the development of biochemistry and biotechnology.

ALNAP - African Laboratory for Natural Products

ALNAP consisted of five natural products laboratories at Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), University of Burundi (Burundi), University of Kinshasa (DR Congo), Makerere University (Uganda) and University of Rwanda. ISP sponsored the network since its start in 1996 and ended 2015. Coordinator was Professor Ermias Dagne, Addis Ababa University.

The main mission of ALNAP was to conduct and promote research in natural products of interest to medicine, industry and agriculture in Africa by fostering co-operation among researchers in the region.

ALNAP cooperated with the ISP supported networks NABSA and NAPRECA.

Website: www.alnapnetwork.com

MOLCAS - The Cassava Molecular Diversity Network

MOLCAS was an interregional network bringing together genetic resources and knowledge of cassava from national and international scientists in Africa, South America, Sweden and Europe. ISP supported the network between 1999 and 2008. Network coordinator was Martin Fregene, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Colombia.

The support stopped in 2008, since the network objectives had been fulfilled and the network coordinator took a new position at an international organisation.

Objectives

MOLCAS aimed to enhance the position of cassava as a food security crop and engine of economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa by generating new approaches to cassava germplasm improvement using new tools of molecular genetics, bioinformatics and farmer knowledge of cassava. The strategy combined an assessment of genetic variation in Africa compared to the total available variation in cassava and wild progenitors from South America and a determination of underlying genetic factors in successful cultivars and how to complement them with favourable alleles from other cultivars and wild progenitors.

More information

The single PhD student in the network was supported until submitting her thesis, which was finally successfully defended in 2011.

A follow-up study from 2017 showed that the data collected during their time as a network was still available at that time and that some of the network nodes were still in contact and collaborating with each other.

FOSSNA - Food Science and Nutrition Network for Africa

The FOSNNA network was a collaboration for exchanging ideals among food scientists in African universities. The network received ISP support between year 2000 and 2009.

FOSNNA had good activities (e.g. workshops and symposia), but when the coordinator of the network got a new position elsewhere and the meeting to appoint a new coordinator never took place, activities stalled and the support was phased out. ISP kept funds for such a meeting two years after the end of the granting period, awaiting a decision by FOSNNA’s executive committee and a new application, but the funds were never requested, no meeting was held, and no application for continued support was submitted.

Collaborating entities were:

University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute, Ethiopia
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
University Mohammed Premier Oujda, Morocco
Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center, Tanzania
Makerere University, Uganda
University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe

AFASSA - Africa-Asia-South America Coordinating Group for Natural Products Research

AFASSA was an interregional coordinating body of several current and former ISP supported networks (NABSA, ALNAP NAPRECA, SARBIO, ANRAP, and LANBIO) involved in natural products research in Africa, Asia and South America. ISP supported the AFASSA between 2002 and 2009.

The intention of the network was to facilitate intercontinental cooperation and student exchange. At the time for the phase out of support AFASSA was coordinated from Sri Lanka. However, the distances between the nodes impaired the cooperation, and student exchange remained a challenge.

A follow-up study from 2017 showed that activities faded after the phase-out. The coordinator of the network at the time of phase-out tried to keep the network active but the response from the members was poor and therefore network activities ceased.

LATSOBIO - Latin American Solid Phase Biotechnology Network

ISP supported the network between 2003 and 2007. LATSBIO was developed from the ISP-supported Uruguayan group IPICS URU02. The network coordinator was Dr Francisco Batista-Viera, Universidad de la Republic in Uruguay.

The main objective of the network coordinated was to promote high-level education in the area of solid phase protein biotechnology, with the aim to drive the development and strengthening of this area in Latin America, targeting Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay.

Activities were focused on providing postgraduate courses and sponsoring scientific exchange in the countries of the region, thus encouraging South-South exchange and contributing to the formation of human resources.

The amount of funding allocated over the support period 2003 to 2007 was SEK 795 000.

Achievements

LATSOBIO developed and strengthened the links with the Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Paraguay, e.g. in arranging postgraduate courses in “Enzyme Immobilization Techniques and their Biotechnological Applications” and in “Affinity Chromatography Techniques and their Applications”. Participants from Africa (selected from ISP Chemistry´s supported African groups) have attended this type of courses.

After termination of ISP support, LATSOBIO entered into an agreement with the Biotechnology Center, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of San Simón in Bolivia, to train students and to organise postgraduate courses, as well as to develop joint research projects.

More information

LATSOBIO was a relatively young network (five years old) and was dependent on ISP funds. The success of the activities performed during the period 2003-2007 encouraged the network to attempt to apply for support from national and international funding agencies. However, all efforts were unsuccessful. As a consequence, the LATSOBIO network was concluded in 2008.

SEANAC - Southern and Eastern Africa Network for Analytical Chemists

SEANAC was formed in 2003 after the realisation that African chemists are not able to effectively carry out analytical chemistry research in the continent due to a lack of resources. ISP supported the network between 2005-2019. The network was coordinated by Professor Nelson Torto, University of Botswana in Botswana.

Nodes in the network were situated at:

Egerton University (Kenya)
Makerere University (Uganda)
National University of Science and Technology (Zimbabwe)
Rhodes University (South Africa)
University of Botswana (Botswana)
University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)
University Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique)
University of Malawi (Malawi)
University of Eswatini (Eswatini, former known as Swaziland)

Objectives

The objectives of SEANAC were to

Promote analytical chemistry in the region through collaboration, research, research training, teaching and information sharing
Facilitate inventory, access, operation, maintenance and repairs of analytical equipment as well as
Collaborate with organisations of similar aims

SEANAC made efforts to encourage sharing of resources and experiences by African chemists and where possible with chemists in Europe. This was reflected in its activities where either European based chemists came to Africa or SEANAC sent researchers to visit research groups in Europe. With the support from ISP, SEANAC was able to offer 3-6 months research fellowships for graduate students as well as postdoctoral scientists for regional collaboration.