Dedicated researcher earns C2 rating

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Dr Samantha Meyer, wants her research to have a meaningful impact.

The dedicated researcher, whose personal mission is to support promising female students to become accomplished scientists, has been awarded a C2 rating from the National Research Foundation.

“I am deeply honoured and pleased to have been awarded a C2 rating. The C2 rating characterises me as being an established researcher with a sustained record of productivity. This acknowledgment will improve my national and international standing in my area of research and should support my career advancement at CPUT. It will also lead to new collaborations, additional grant funding and the attraction of excellent postgraduate students.”

She said the recognition also led to the University of the Western Cape (UWC) appointing her as an Adjunct Research Fellow in the Department of Biotechnology.

“I have completed all my tertiary education (from undergraduate BSc to my Doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences) at the UWC, so this appointment is indeed very special to me and opens up many exciting opportunities for my postgraduate students.”

Meyer has built her research themes around the impact of medicinal plants in phytomedicine and phytonanotechnology and their application to infectious diseases. This aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3 - good health and well-being.

“My research involves extracting bioactive components from medicinal plants and using these active compounds to synthesise a range of nanoparticles to investigate antimicrobial activity and wound healing.”

She grew up in Umkomaas on the south coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal and as a child her dream was to become a teacher.

“During my undergraduate studies, listening to my lecturers talk about their research motivated me to consider postgraduate studies in the medical sciences. I was then introduced to the fascinating world of medicinal plants. This unveiled a whole new horizon for me; I realised that I could pursue my love of teaching and science by becoming an academic researcher.”

She strives to inspire her students and “make them believe that they too are capable of greatness if they work hard”.

“In South Africa, women are still under-represented in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, hence a very important personal mission for me is to support promising female students to become accomplished scientists.”

Meyer hopes her research will make a difference.

“I believe that my research must have a meaningful impact and for this reason an important consideration for me is how my research can be applied to solve problems in human health. The research work that I have been doing thus far has provided scientific evidence to validate the traditional use of some medicinal plants. This information will be valuable to those who use these plants in traditional medicine.

“My scientific studies have also shown that Green Nanotechnology can enhance the medicinal properties of plants, and these nanoparticles can be used to combat a variety of infectious diseases. In the future these can potentially be used for the development of novel treatments to combat antimicrobial resistance.”

Written by Ilse Fredericks
Email: Frederickskennediji@cput.ac.za