Analytical skills for African scientists
Workshop highlights importance of compound identification to local challenges
More than 15 scientists from universities, government agencies and research institutions in nine sub-Saharan countries had the chance to expand their analytical skills at a practical workshop on gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) organised by the RSC Pan Africa Chemistry Network (PACN) in Kenya. The five-day workshop at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), which was co-sponsored by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), offered participants an opportunity to develop their analytical chemistry skills.
The interactive learning sessions included the set-up, tuning and basic maintenance of GC-MS instrumentation, the running of samples and the interpretation of spectra. In addition, they were able to network with their peers and develop new collaborations.
The workshop was opened on 25 August by Professor Erick Okong’o, Dean of the Faculty of Science at JKUAT, and Professor Jacob Midiwo, PACN Executive Secretary. Speaking at the event, Professor Midiwo urged the participants to make the most of the training, since chemical weapons are increasingly becoming the instruments of choice in war zones. “This is why the OPCW has come in for the last six years to co-sponsor the workshop,” he explained.
One of the trainers, Dr Steve Lancaster from Domino Printing in Cambridge, UK, added that the “deployment and use of GC-MS machines in Africa could significantly contribute to early identification and control of compounds that are harmful to humans, plants and animals. Poisonous chemicals have decimated African biodiversity partly due to our incapacity to detect them in commonly used agricultural and domestic products.”
Professor Anthony Gachanja of JKUAT, the second trainer, also emphasised that “uncontrolled use of pesticides in Kenyan farms poses environmental health hazards to the country as residues from such chemicals can easily percolate into rivers, dams and streams. In such circumstances, the GC-MS laboratories like the one we have here in JKUAT is very important, as it enables analysis and unequivocal identification of harmful compounds.”
