Winner. Scientist of the Year 2021

Idah Sithole Niang

Academic title, degree: Professor, Ph.D. in Biochemistry
Fields of science: Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Virology, Biotechnology
Research interest: Endophytes, Bacteriophages, Crop Improvement, Biotechnology
Institution: University of Zimbabwe
Position: Acting Dean, Faculty of Science
Country: Zimbabwe

Idah Sithole Niang is a Professor at the University of Zimbabwe's Department of Biochemistry which she joined in 1992. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Michigan State University (MSU) working on chicken and turkey herpesviruses. Later, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the same Institution at MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory, working on the genetics of photosynthesis in a unicellular cyanobacterium, Synechocystis PCC 6803 under the supervision of Dr. Lee McIntosh.

Professor Idah Sithole Niang has been working on biotechnology and biosafety capacity development for 2 decades within Zimbabwe and several sub-Saharan African countries including, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, and Namibia. Her research includes working on the genetic improvement of cowpea by conferring resistance to the Cowpea aphid mosaic potyvirus using genetic engineering tools. Her work also focuses on endophytes, bacteria, and fungi that live within plants without causing any discernible harm. They produce compounds with various antimicrobial properties and other bioactive compounds which she exploits using biotechnology to produce goods and services for the agriculture and medical fields. In recent years has also isolated bacteriophages, matched them to clinical isolates in preparation for use in phage therapy.

Professor Idah Sithole Niang is a Fellow of the World Academy of the Sciences, a Fellow of the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences, Zimbabwe Ambassador for the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME), Fellow of the Salzburg Seminars. She is a member of the UZ Council and serves for its Executive Committee, and is also a member and Vice-Chairman of the Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) Council. She was the Board Chair of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), a Vice Chairman of the Research Council of Zimbabwe, a Vice-Chairman of the Icipe Governing Council, the Chair of its Nomination Committee, the Chair of the African Women in Research and Development (AWARD) Steering Committee.

Prof. Sithole Niang is a member of multiple national and international organizations, including the Grants Review Committee (GRC) at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Advisory Board, Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS), American Society for Virologists (ASV), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Sigma Xi, Rhodes Scholarships Selection Committee and Public Research and Regulations Initiatives (PRRI).

She was granted the Outstanding Graduate Woman of the Year Award at Michigan State University (MSU) in 1988, the First William Brown Fellowship, and an Inaugural Fellow of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotechnology Applications (ISAAA) in 1990, and the Rockefeller Biotechnology Career Fellowship in 1992.

Professor Idah Sithole Niang has been able to respond to the new call by the University to transition to Education 5.0 through its new Strategic Plan (2019 – 2025) which seeks to have Universities innovate and industrialize by providing solutions to national problems through their research activities. With this in mind, Prof. Sithole Niang and her Team have embarked on a number of activities, including using arbitrary sequences, she and her Team have developed a low range molecular weight marker for routine DNA analysis.

Her laboratory has constructed an expression vector for cleavage prior to purification using sequences from the Cowpea aphid-borne mosaic potyvirus (CABMV). This vector enables one to express a protein whose gene is coupled to the gene of the protease that has the ability, following synthesis to cleave and release other proteins that are fused to it. This is not new and other Laboratories have done this, however, in the hands of Prof. Sithole Niang, it was designed for high throughput production of enzymes and proteins obtained from endophytic and bacteriophage sources. The expression vectors described here require chemical induction which works well when used routinely but becomes costly at an industrial scale. To this end, her laboratory has acquired a light-inducible expression vector, pDAWN so that they can use light for induction instead. They have gone further and customized it for easy exchange of cloning fragments some of which encode genes for peptide antibiotics and an endolysin for bacteriophage therapy.

With the support of the Kirkhouse Trust, which funds her Molecular Biology Teaching Laboratory (MBTL), Professor Idah Sithole Niang has brought new meaning to teaching “hands-on” practical laboratory classes to her students. This has built new impetus in students acquiring new skills and being better able to compete for scholarships and placements in advanced laboratories globally.

Professor Idah Sithole Niang has co-founded the Network for the Genetic Improvement of Cowpea for Africa (NGICA) with Prof. Larry Murdock of Purdue University, USA in order to bring useful and meaningful resources to this neglected crop.