The Universities of Stellenbosch (SU) and KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) were host to the 4th Biannual Indian Ocean Rim Muscle Colloquium held from 24 to 26 January 2016 at the Asara Conference Venue outside Stellenbosch.
Prof Kathy Myburgh, distinguished professor of Physiological Sciences at SU and Dr Carola Niesler from the Department Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UKZN, co-chaired the conference organising committee. Prof Myburgh also holds the DST/NRF SARChI chair in Integrative Skeletal Muscle Physiology, Biology and Biotechnology at SU.
The conference themes – developing and maintaining muscle strength and understanding the integrity of connective tissue and manipulating connective tissue/muscle stem cell interaction – were approached from many angles, including the molecular, zebrafish and tissue engineering to human models of sarcopenic neuromuscular atrophy.
More applied topics centred on muscle damage induced by excess immune cell infiltration, chemotherapy agents or injury and regeneration.
The conference was opened by Prof. Albert van Jaarsveld, rector of UKZN, with keynote speakers Prof. Gianni Parise from McMaster University in Canada and Dr. Thomaz Mars from the University of Ljubiljana in Slovenia.
Prof. Parise is a world leader in the field of skeletal muscle satellite and stem cell regulation that is still poorly understood when it comes to human muscle, while Dr Mars developed a method to study spontaneously contracting skeletal muscle myotubes in culture, a feat only possible by co-culture with neural stem cells.
From South Africa, Dr Janine Scholefield (CSIR) demonstrated how the tools of genome engineering make it possible to manipulate stem cells in vitro to develop models of human cell/tissue dysfunction.
The two invited young investigators were Dr Yu Suk Choi from the University of Western Australia in Perth, and Dr Bali Sishi from SU. Their presentations focused on the mechanical properties of 3-D generated biomaterials that allow for the best growth of muscle cells and the pathways that should be targeted intracellularly to reduce cardiotoxicity, respectively.
This was also the first IORMC to include presentations of innovative new techniques by representatives from industry during three workshops. Ken Wong from Aurora Scientific in Hong Kong demonstrated the finer points of muscle force measurements using advanced technology. Ms Lize Engelbrecht from SU's Central Analytical Facility (CAF) presented a workshop on correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM), while Ms Rozanne Adams covered advanced flow cytometry and cell sorting using her experience of working with primary muscle cells. The workshops were sponsored by the Physiological Society of Southern Africa and BD Biosciences.
Dr Anna Clark, Executive Editor of BioMed Central Publishing House in the United Kingdom, also presented a valuable workshop explaining the process of manuscript evaluation and the pitfalls writers should avoid from the point of view of editors and reviewers.
The conference concluded with a presentation by SU alumnus, Dr Tertius Kohn, currently a senior researcher at the University of Cape Town. His presentation expounded on the superior attributes of wild animal muscle compared to the domesticated human. This "African Perspective" was enjoyed by visiting speakers almost as much as the setting.
On the photo, two postgraduate students in Physiological Sciences at Stellenbosch University (SU) performed well at the recent Indian Ocean Rim Muscle Colloquium that was held in Stellenbosch from 24 to 26 January 2016. MSc-student Chris Reeves (at the back, right) won the first place in the poster competition, while Kelly Peterson (at the front, right), also an MSc student, won joint second prize for a short oral communication. Also on the photo are (in front), Ellen Ngarande (UCT) and Lauren Butchart (University of Western Australia). At the back are Dr Nick Walker, sponsor of the prizes and Mtho Nkozi (UKZN). Photo: Debbie Rorich
