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Out of Africa: TWOWS' first graduate
Helping young women scientists in the south fulfill
their potential
With the help of TWOWS fellowships, talented and dedicated women scientists,
despite their small numbers, are slowly helping to build the scientific
capacities of their countries - and, in the process, boosting their own career
prospects and helping to advance the economic and social well-being of their
nations too. Meet Dr Osowole, TWOWS first graduate.
TWOWS
 The Trieste-based Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS),
which was launched in 1993 under the auspices of the Third World Academy of
Sciences (TWAS), fosters cooperation among eminent women scientists from the
South and to help young women who have displayed scientific potential to advance
their careers.
The TWOWS young women scientists fellowship programme enables promising
female students from sub-Saharan African nations and other Least Developed
Countries (LDCs) to apply for grants to support postgraduate training leading to
a PhD.
To date, TWOWS has awarded post-graduate fellowships to over 150 young women
scientists from 37 countries.
Aderoju Osowole from Nigeria, has now become the first young woman scientist
to graduate from the scheme.
Hooked on science
Despite the inhospitable learning environment she faced, Aderoju Osowole
became hooked on science at an early age.
Aderoju grew up in Ibadan in southwest Nigeria. During the first year of her
secondary school education, Aderoju was introduced to such classic scientific
demonstrations as the 'popping' sound created when a lighted splint is inserted
into a test tube containing hydrogen, and the decolouration of green plants left
to grow in the dark. "These observations," says Aderoju,
"challenged my mind as a young girl and convinced me that I should study
science."
After leaving high school, Aderoju went on to study chemistry at the
University of Ibadan, gaining her bachelor's degree in 1990 and master's in
1993. These milestones were followed by her enrolment, in 1997, in the
university's PhD programme to study, as the title of her dissertation opaquely
describes, the "synthesis, physicochemical and biological properties of
cobalt, nickel and copper complexes of various substituted
beta-ketoamines and their adducts."
In simpler terms, Aderoju began to investigate the characteristics of
molecules containing both organic and inorganic components and, more
specifically, how these molecules could be developed for use in such
bio-industrial processes as the inhibition of corrosion caused by sulphate-reducing
bacteria. Several of the compounds also showed potential antibiotic activity
against such food-poisoning bacteria as Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia
coli.
During the early stages of this research, Aderoju realized that she would not
be able to complete her work at Ibadan because equipment critical for her
research - for example, a spectrometer to measure the mass and relative
concentrations of atoms and molecules - was not available. A senior instructor,
Gabriel A. Kolawole, who has since moved on to the Department of Chemistry,
University of Zululand, Republic of South Africa, suggested that she might be
able to overcome this obstacle by applying to the Third World Organization of
Women in Science (TWOWS) fellowship programme for assistance.
Aderoju submitted her application in 1998 and she received notification of
her acceptance to the programme later that same year. TWOWS fellowship funds
enabled her to travel to the Indian Institute of Science's Department of
Inorganic and Physical Chemistry in Bangalore, India - a recognized centre of
excellence in her line of research. Aderoju spent one year of her four-year
research programme in India.
Hi-tech in India
"At Bangalore, I was able to carry out the micro- analysis and infrared
and mass spectroscopy analyses that I needed to complete my PhD research,"
explains Aderoju. "Together, mass spectroscopy and the microanalysis of
carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen enabled me to determine the correct proportions of
these elements in my chemical reactions and their products. Moreover, by
analysing the infrared spectra, which was again made possible by the equipment
in Bangalore, I could decipher whether the metal atoms I was interested in were
linked to the organic molecules via carbon-oxygen bonds or carbon-nitrogen
bonds, which is essential for predicting the behaviour of the compounds."
While at the Indian Institute of Science, Aderoju also enjoyed access to
libraries stocked with up to- date journals and equipped with state-of-the-art
information search and retrieval systems - critical intellectual resources for
every research project.
Under the supervision of Varadachari Krishnan (TWAS Fellow 1996), whose
research has focused on the biochemistry of cellular processes, Aderoju was also
able to use the facilities and expertise available at Bangalore to venture into
a new research area. She began to study porphyrins - organic compounds that, in
the plant kingdom, combine with such metals as magnesium to produce chlorophyll,
the molecule responsible for trapping light energy and converting it into
chemical energy. In the animal kingdom, porphyrins combine with iron, to produce
haem - as in the blood protein, haemoglobin, which absorbs oxygen in our lungs
and transports and releases this essential constituent of life to our body's
cells. Porphyrins, in brief, act as electron transport agents within cells and,
for this reason, could have great potential as nanocomponents in such electronic
devices as computer hardware and mobile telephones.
Aderoju obviously used her time in India well and, on returning to Nigeria,
was able to complete her thesis. She was awarded her doctorate degree, becoming
the first scientist to graduate from the TWOWS fellowship programme.
Back in Nigeria
 She is now back in Nigeria where both graduate and postgraduate students
attend her lectures and benefit from the time she spent in India. She is also
continuing her research on the chemistry of biologically active molecules that
could find uses as catalysts and antimicrobial agents. In particular, Aderoju
has identified a cobalt compound that, at optimal concentrations, kills 100
percent of Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria, the causal agent of tonsillitis,
within an hour.
She admits that the lack of facilities in Nigeria impedes her progress. Her
positive experience with the TWOWS fellowship, however, has given her the
confidence to seek another fellowship that would allow her to go abroad to
further characterize the complex organometal compounds she is interested in and
to continue to explore their potential industrial applications.
A recent World Bank study covering 192 countries shows that human and social
capital is responsible, on average, for about two-thirds of a nation's gross
domestic product. If women are unable to fulfil their academic promise, one-half
of a nation's human resource potential is compromised. In today's world, such a
loss carries serious consequences for a nation's social and economic well-being.
In many developing countries (and developed countries as well), science jobs,
especially at higher levels, tend to be male-dominated. In southern Africa, for
example, women account for about 25 percent of science students, 10 percent of
university teachers, and less than 1 percent of the total number of tenured
science professors. This makes Aderoju - and other women like her - true
pioneers in their fields.
Aderoju readily admits that she sees herself as a role-model for other young
women. "Female scientists," she says, "must excel beyond the
artificially imposed limits set for them by society, which often still believes
that women cannot attain the same level of achievement as their male
counterparts. I attribute my own success to my strong determination, hard work
and perseverance." Aderoju is now using her experience and knowledge to
help other young women students at the University of Ibadan and elsewhere by
giving them moral support and imparting skills and ideas through collaborative
research.
More information:
Article by TWAS Newsletter
For more on TWAS and TWOWS see here.
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