- Imaging is a bit of an umbrella term, that refers to technologies that we can use to visualize life, or materials and interactions. So, from a biology side, that refers to either biomedical imaging, such as MRIs, and CT Scans and X-rays, But often, and in my case, I use it to refer to microscopy.

- Hello, and welcome back to "Africa Science Focus." The show that keeps you up to date with the latest tech innovation and science news. I'm Michael Kaloki, and I'm your host this week. Africa's Health Environment and Food Systems have long struggled with limited resources for R&D, that's research and development. But these fields could be transformed with better access to some insightful pieces of equipment, microscopes. This week, we investigate how microscopy is being used for Africa's development. And we get an inside look at the new African BioImaging Consortium, a network of people bringing together biology, microscope hardware, and imaging software.

- The basic principle of microscopy is magnifying an object so that you get an image which is big enough to see the final details of that object. Here's Moturin Joka, from the Kenya Medical Research Institute. So why are microscopes so important and what are they used for? Back to you, Moturin.

- Microscopy and imaging can benefit Africa in diagnosis of various parasitic diseases and also cancer and drug discovery like assessing the efficacy of therapeutic interventions in animal models, upscaling imaging, where reduce dependency on drugs and knowledge outside Africa. And this will make Africa to manage its health sector better and more effective with lesser costs. And what we need to do is to move a notch higher and acquire more power of microscopes than we do use here in Africa for diagnosis. And get the training on the techniques on what those microscopes can do. And I am a member of African BioImaging Consortium. And I believe that it can be revolutionizing in life science research across the Africa continent. Here's our reporter, Michael Baruti, able to catch up with some of the leadership team of the new African BioImaging Consortium.

- Okay, yes, . Okay, great. So my name is Dr. Karen Jacobs. I am what is called an imaging scientist. So that can mean a number of different things. But for me, it means I have a background in basic cell biology and biochemistry research, as well as infectious disease research. But my passion is how microscopy can be leveraged to drive discovery in basic research.

- Karen Jacobs is a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative imaging scientist at the University of Cape Town and the Welcome Center for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa. Dr. Jacobs helped set up the newly established network of life science researchers who are using microscopes to examine life in Africa.

- I feel like this is something completely new.

- Sure.

- So what is it? What is imaging?

- In my case, I use it to refer to microscopy. And that can range from a relatively simple compound like microscope to very high and advanced, what we call fluorescent and electron microscopes. So it's incredibly powerful because it allows you to literally see what's going on. You can see interactions, you can see movement, you can see size and shape. So you can see how the world interacts with itself, and how if you perturb it, how it responds.

- Hmm, so in African context, what can it eventually do for Africa?

- So, imaging, because of its capacity, can be leveraged in almost any field of life science research. From plant biology, crop science, studying crop health, you can use microscopes to screen for different molecules targeting different diseases. Obviously, Africa carries a huge burden of diseases, both infectious and non-communicable. And it can drive discovery in both of those fields. From a basic perspective, sort of really understanding mechanisms and really what we refer to as basic foundational science to applied science, sort of driving more medical and clinically related discoveries. And also, it can be used in a clinical setting. It's already widely used for sort of histopathology and diagnosis.

- All right. So, for starters, before we talk about how much challenge can it pose to imaging, what is scientific colonialism, really?

- So, this is a term that has come about in regards to Africa's history, and the fact that often our resources, whether that's natural resources, natural products, as well as human resources, have historically being taken advantage of by other parts of the world. And while there is a drive and it's a good drive for more wealthy regions and countries to put back into the continent without building capacity on the ground in Africa, and allowing scientists to do more complex work onsite, what that often amounts to is Africans exporting our natural resources. And from a scientific perspective, that also includes interesting and complex samples to our wealthier collaborators in Europe or the USA. So, there are pockets of imaging excellence in different regions throughout the continent, often with a lot of support from global funders and partners to their credit. But to a large extent, because imaging sits at the intersection of complex biology, complex engineering, and complex objects, often, there's a perspective that it's just too complicated for us to implement. It's too expensive, it's inaccessible, and we should leave it to our better resource collaborators. What that means is, we can't come back to, our samples get shipped overseas. We don't get to actually see and visualize the power of the imaging. We don't drive interest. We don't drive capacity here. And we're stuck in this cycle where if African researchers do want to actively engage in imaging, they need to go somewhere else. And that feeds our brain drain problem.

- To magnify the potential benefits that microscopes could bring to areas like health and agriculture, many of Africa's research facilities need support, so they can develop supervision standards and deliver training, and improve supply chains and other critical infrastructure.

- So, what we're trying to do with what we've called the African BioImaging Consortium is connect the African research community. Our take is, it is open to anyone. Diversity is critical in research as in all parts of life. And the world is already becoming more and more cognizant of that. And that's critical in research as well. Africans will have different ideas, think differently, approach problems differently. And if we're not actively involved in that process at all levels, it deprives both us and the research process of our potential. Our focus is bolstering the African research community for research in Africa. We have a list of about 70 African researchers from about 15 different African countries. And that includes Ghana, Senegal, Mali, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt. And I would like to see, instead of just three or four pockets of research imaging excellence throughout the continent, we've got 15 countries, let's say that's 15 pockets.

- When it comes to malaria, for example, the wider use of microscopes could reduce the number of incorrect diagnosis, which could save valuable malaria drugs from being prescribed when they're not needed.

- Dr. Alason Min is a researcher at the Pasteur Institute of Dakar, a biomedical research center in Senegal. He tells "Africa Science Focus," how imaging and microscopes are helping Africa science teams to get a clearer view of the problems they are investigating.

- And then, we asking questions like, what are the genetic diversity of our sites circulating artemisinin resistance, which is a problem, not only in Southeastern Asia, but it's threatening all the efforts that we did over the last year, is to reduce the malaria burden. I'm also an artist. I'm running a lab at music level. So, arts and science could go together. That's what I'm doing.

- If I say you have a chance of a sharing, talking to African scientists and somebody asked you to convince them to join the initiative, to join the consortium, to understand what about microscopy, and why they should be excited about imaging. What is one thing that your lecture tell them?

- First of all, imaging is a kind of art. And we feel equipped to develop any kind of art in Africa. We artists, that's the first thing. And we could use that art to kind of understand relevant mechanisms of all these pathogens. Now, what is interesting about this is like, at the same time, we're gonna address key questions related to health development, and then, accessibility, and treatment as well. We've seen it with COVID-19 and here, now, we're talking about, you know, one of the questions we should ask, and that is still not clear, is why we have this immunity against COVID-19? Microscope could help for that. So, the excitement for my colleagues is like, let's develop this platform, let's get connected. And then, let's do the work. Our goal is to become independent and then be able to acquire microscopes here. But before then, we could agree, like, links, so that we exchange and then develop collaboration, in Africa by Africans.

- Yeah, Pan-Africanism, I like that. Michael Baruti, finishing our report on microscopy and imaging. And now, it's time for our Q&A segment. This week's question comes from Kampala.

- Hi, "Africa Science Focus." My name is Abin Tendo, from Kisaasi College School, Kampala, Uganda. We learned about greenhouse effect. That's all about climate. And we ask ourselves like, "How does that climate affect the whole us and it doesn't affect the countries that would have those ends of Asia, and it affects these countries that are in the United States and Africa?"

- Hi, Abin, Kampala, Uganda. Let me start by saying that it is not true, that countries in the Asia have not been affected by climate change. We have Vietnam, Philippines, Bangladesh, and many others. Some of the countries in the top 10 of those who have been affected by the adverse effects of climate change. And that is according to the Global Climate Index, which you can always cross-check when you've got some free time. You know, climate change is a global phenomenon. And in this case, what it means that all countries must be affected in one way or another. Caused by natural factors and also anthropogenic, or when manmade actions, and which facilitated a release of greenhouse gases, such as methane, carbon dioxide, and many others. So, all countries usually contribute to climate change in one way or another. But what differs may be our contribution levels. So what happens is that highly industrialized nations contribute a lot more than least developed countries. So, this is where the polluter must pay, and usually comes in, saying that the highly industrialized countries must composite the least developed countries

- Many thanks to Mathews Malata, the president of the Association of Environmental Journalists in Malawi for answering this week's listener question. If you have a question that you want answered, get in touch, send a voice message via WhatsApp to + 254799042513, and you too could be featured on "Africa Science Focus." If you liked our show, you can subscribe and download more episodes on your favorite podcast app. Today's program was produced by Harrison Lewis. The editors were Fiona Broom and Jackie Opara-Fatoye, with reporting from Michale Baruti. "Africa Science Focus" is produced by SciDev.Net and distributed in association with your local radio station. I'm Michael Kaloki. See you again next week. This program was funded by the European Journalism Center through the European Development Journalism Grant Program with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.