Foundation for Analytical Science in Africa and Its ... - ACS Publications

Chapter 8

Downloaded by UNIV OF FLORIDA on November 17, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date (Web): October 23, 2017 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2017-1268.ch008

Foundation for Analytical Science in Africa and Its Role in Capacity Building and Environmental Preservation in Africa Steve Lancaster,*,1 Ngaio Richards,2 and Anthony Gachanja3 1Domino Printing Sciences, Bar Hill, Cambridge, United Kingdom CB23 8TU 2Working Dogs for Conservation, P.O. Box 280, Bozeman, Montana 59771, United States 3Department of Chemistry, Jomo Kenyata University of Agriculture & Technology, P.O. Box 62000, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya *E-mail: [email protected].

Foundation for Analytical Science & Technology in Africa (FASTA) was set up in 2006 to help support and cultivate research into analytical chemistry in Africa. It has provided funding for shipment of analytical instrumentation, particularly GC-MS instruments and their continued support in Kenya. FASTA works closely with the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Pan Africa Chemistry Network to facilitate training in GC-MS for African chemists from across the continent. FASTA has also supported research into environmental issues and this chapter describes work done to research the reasons behind a loss of Gyps Africanus vulture population.

The Foundation for Analytical Science & Technology in Africa (FASTA) is a registered charity comprised of industrial and academic scientists from the UK’s analytical sector. It was founded by Steve Lancaster (Domino Printing Sciences, Cambridge, UK) and Barrie Nixon (Mass Spec UK) on September 20th, 2006 to support the development of promising scientists, analytical research and the preservation of the environment in Africa, via capacity-building and technology transfer.

© 2017 American Chemical Society Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


Professor Anthony Gachanja of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology in Nairobi, Kenya, and Steve Lancaster were Graduate students together in the School of Chemistry, University of Hull, UK. In a telephone conversation with Steve Lancaster in early 2006, Anthony noted that the practical teaching of analytical chemistry suffered from a lack of analytical equipment and instrumentation. They realised that this lack of basic instrumentation posed a serious impediment to scientific progress and research in Africa. They decided to do something about this and formed the charitable organization, Foundation for Analytical Science & Technology in Africa (FASTA). Several organisations, including: Domino Printing Sciences, Mass Spec UK, The British Mass Spectrometry Society, The Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Pfizer, BP, Shimadzu, Agilent and Perkin-Elmer, amongst others, have provided grants and donated refurbished equipment. Their support has been pivotal in allowing FASTA to set up our first partner GC-MS laboratory in 2006 at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology (JKUAT) in Nairobi, where Anthony is based. The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has been on-board since the beginning, immediately recognizing the need to support the chemical sciences in Africa, and having itself formed The Pan Africa Chemistry Network (PACN) which works with universities, schools, scientists, teachers and students to integrate African countries into international scientific networks. More recently the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have provided funding for PACN, which has enabled the number of training courses to be increased and more equipment to be purchased. The aims and objectives of FASTA are aligned with the PACN initiative (to advance the chemical sciences in Africa, recognising that analytical science is key in all areas of the chemical sciences) and are summarised below:

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To facilitate research and teaching into chemical systems/processes and environmental processes, through the support of talented African citizens; To enable/facilitate the provision of accurate, affordable and accessible environmental monitoring services at the local and national level; To promote and encourage food analysis to facilitate the import and export of foodstuffs that fully conform to human health and safety standards.

To achieve these aims and to ensure that they are sustainable, FASTA is working with the Royal Society of Chemistry and PACN to create a critical mass of local scientists with expertise in advanced analytical technology. This base of knowledgeable people can then respond rapidly to emerging environmental issues worldwide, with particular focus on Africa, while offering high quality analysis. Since its inception, FASTA has invested most of its resources into JKUAT, with the view that working closely and concertedly with a small number of facilities will ensure success and, ultimately, that of other partner facilities. Indeed, the goal was for JKUAT, under the guidance of Professor Gachanja and the directors of FASTA, to become a hub for analytical science in East Africa, 136 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


promoting technical excellence via high-level analytical equipment which can be used for analysis and training throughout the region (1–3). Through FASTA, Steve Lancaster, Anthony Gachanja and Mathias Schaffer of Cologne University, have developed and run a training course on GC-MS, concentrating on the practical aspects of the instrumentation and the cultivation of local skills in running the instrumentation and teaching skills in mass spectral interpretation. Over the past ten years, we have held an average of two training courses in Africa per year, operating primarily out of JKUAT in Nairobi, but also at universities in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Kwame Nkruma University of Science & Technology, Accra in Ghana and most recently at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. We have now reached around 300 fledgling and established chemists from all over Africa, mainly Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Ghana, but also including people from as far afield as Egypt. The GSK funding has enabled the Royal Society of Chemistry and PACN to increase the number of training courses offered and diversify the location of those courses. We are now working to train local trainers and are working with a cohort of scientists from GSK and Anthias (a UK based training organization) to ensure that we can satisfy an increased demand for these training events. Our ultimate goal is to train and nurture sufficient African chemists who will be able to deliver more courses into the future. GC-MS is possibly the most widely used technique today for the identification and quantification of a large range of substances within the realms of environmental monitoring, food safety, medicine, forensic science and a whole range of industries (4). Crucially, many of the people we have trained are lecturers from African universities, so they can pass on their knowledge and skills to their own students. Around 20-30 cited papers are now believed to have spun out of this training and this is a good measure of the successes we are having in Africa. Thanks to the funding which the GSK partnership, (and before that a Syngenta partnership) has facilitated, we can now aim to increase the number of courses given annually from two to more than ten in 2018/2019. PACN is concentrating its efforts in four hubs, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria. These courses will be given in the above locations.

FASTA-Facilitated Biodiversity Conservation and Wildlife Protection Initiatives Having partnered with FASTA on a range of analytical chemistry based projects revolving around environmental preservation, JKUAT is now recognised by the Kenyan government as a centre of excellence in environmental research and analytical chemistry. In 2007, FASTA was approached by Ngaio Richards, at the time a doctoral student at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. Her doctoral research sought ways to increase the detection of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (or, NSAIDs) such as diclofenac (better known to arthritis sufferers as Voltarol/Voltaren), ibuprofen and flunixin in ‘environmentally-robust’ samples such as bovine or equine hair, river otter pelage, sheep’s wool and vulture feathers (5). A self-professed vulture lover, Ngaio was inspired to pursue this 137 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


work following the revelation that consumption of veterinary diclofenac residues in livestock carcasses was at the root of the sheer decline in once abundant Gyps vulture populations on the Indian subcontinent (6, 7). The work also stemmed from her dawning awareness that carcasses and, by extension tissues, typically sampled for such residues, have a finite lifespan in hot and humid climates. FASTA’s provision of a multi-sample desiccator for use in the doctoral research facilitated the rapid preparation of multiple samples and was therefore indispensable to the timely completion and success of the analytical component of the study. This work resulted in a ‘first detection’ publication (5). At the same time, news that organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides were being used to deliberately poison animals in Africa (e.g., in response to humanwildlife conflict and for human consumption) was trickling in from international conservation networks. Although Africa has long been recognized as hosting some of the world’s richest and most biodiverse assemblages, that biodiversity and species richness is also being undermined at an unprecedented rate (8), with intentional poisoning as one of the main drivers of species decline (9). Even with the knowledge that diclofenac is toxic to Gyps vultures and potentially to other species, and as other NSAIDs continue to be revealed as having harmful effects (10), the presence of residues of veterinary agents, including NSAIDs, in agricultural landscapes and the environment, remains an additional (sometimes parallel) threat to biodiversity and species conservation (11, 12). Addressing pressing and complex environmental contamination and input issues like these in an effective and lasting way necessitates bridging any theoretical gaps existing between analytical chemists and conservationists. To gain perspective on a) the relative threats that veterinary agents such as NSAIDs and these intentional pesticide applications posed to African wildlife, and b) the analytical capacity available to document such threats, an Outreach Scholarship was secured from the UK-based Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund, enabling Ngaio to spend 6 weeks in Kenya. Undertaken in the spring of 2010, the aim of this working visit was firstly to make use of the excellent GC-MS facility at JKUAT to analyse samples from the field, to meet face-to-face with Professor Gachanja and other key analytical researchers in and around Nairobi, to visually ascertain the network of existing laboratory facilities and related expertise, better grasp the inherent logistical challenges of processing and analyzing wildlife samples, and nurture collaborations. Half the time was spent in the field with various conservationists and researchers to see firsthand the very challenging circumstances of collecting, storing and transporting wildlife samples that prevail on-the-ground. Having also used the time to conduct numerous in-person interviews and opportunistically attend a vulture workshop held in the Masai Mara, Ngaio edited a book titled ‘Carbofuran and wildlife poisoning: Global Perspectives and Forensic Approaches’ (9), co-authored by many Kenya-based stakeholders. It was the culmination of the working visit, and also spawned a number of unique partnerships between researchers engaged in veterinary agent residue and pesticide poisoning threats posed to wildlife, the environment, and human communities. 138 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


If the monitoring of samples for harmful residues is to succeed on a long-term basis in Africa, it must essentially be self-sustaining. Strategically positioned to help achieve this, FASTA aims to support current and ongoing efforts to develop collaboration between chemists and analysts and the requisite stakeholder network of conservationists and biologists. Although NSAIDs are not thought to represent a major threat to vultures and other scavengers in Kenya at this time, their monitoring could nonetheless prove useful. Given that NSAIDs can be administered to mask the signs of pain and inflammation, their use is closely monitored or in some cases prohibited in the horseracing industry. JKUAT recently collaborated with the Jockey Club of Kenya. In this work, the laboratory received equine samples routinely collected on racing days to monitor for evidence of equine doping. Professor Gachanja is presently conducting a pilot project to integrate the NSAID detection methodology into a multi-screening process to monitor for evidence of equine doping. Protocol validation is already underway. This collaboration enables the JKUAT laboratory to generate a modest amount of revenue, which would in turn allow it to meet its operational costs and offer low cost analysis of wildlife samples to conservation bodies and other stakeholders with minimal financial resources. An example of the sustainable capacity building which is an essential requirement to the development of capability and skills in Africa. At the same time, there is a movement underway to comprehensively screen human and animal samples for evidence of exposure to a number of compounds of concern, as the consumption of meat containing NSAIDS and other veterinary pharmacueticals could have important human health implications. This is well controlled in developed economies but less so in Africa. Into the future, it is FASTA’s intention to continue to build capacity amongst the African analytical chemistry community via this GC-MS training partnership (http://www.rsc.org/campaigns/m/rp/pacn-gsk/partnership/. The Analytical Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry is currently exploring ways in which the links between European analytical chemists and our African colleagues can be further strengthened. The need for good analytical chemistry is a global requirement and capacity in this field in Africa can only be enhanced by maximizing international links. The collaborative work on vulture conservation is a great example of this (13).

References 1. 2. 3.

4. 5.

Lancaster, S. British Mass Spectrometry Society, Mass Matters 2006, 51, 11. Crossland, S. British Mass Spectrometry Society, Mass Matters 2006, 52, 6. Richards, N.; Lancaster, S. British Mass Spectrometry Society, Mass Matters 2007, 54, 6. Lancaster, S. The Royal Society of Chemistry—Environmental Chemistry Group Bulletin, September 2011, pp 3−8. Lancaster, S.; Driver, H. The Analytical Scientist 2017, 49, 22–31. Richards, N. L.; Hall, S.; Scott, K. S.; Harrison, N. M. Short communication. Environmental Pollution 2011, 159, 1446–1450. 139 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

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Oaks, J. L.; Gilbert, M.; Virani, M. Z.; Watson, R. T.; Meteyer, C. U.; Rideout, B. A.; Shivaprasad, H. L.; Ahmed, S.; Chaudhry, M. J. I.; Arshad, M.; Mahmood, S.; Ali, A.; Khan, A. A. Nature 2004, 427, 630–633. Pain, D. J.; Bowden, C. G. R.; Cunningham, A. A.; Cuthbert, R.; Das, D.; Gilbert, M.; Jakati, R. D.; Jhala, Y.; Khan, A. A.; Naidoo, V.; Oaks, J. L.; Parry-Jones, J.; Prakash, V.; Rahmani, A.; Ranade, S. P.; Baral, H. S.; Senacha, K. R.; Saravanan, S.; Shah, N.; Swan, G.; Swarup, D.; Taggart, M. A.; Watson, R. T.; Virani, M. Z.; Wolter, K.; Green, R. R. Bird Conservation International 2008, 18, S30–S48. UNEP-WCMC (2016) The State of Biodiversity in Africa: A Mid-Term Review of Progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, UK, 2016. Richards, N. L. In Carbofuran and Wildlife Poisoning: Global Perspectives and Forensic Approaches; Richards, N. L., Ed.; John Wiley & Sons: UK, 2012. Galligan, T. H.; Taggart, M. A.; Cuthbert, R. J.; Svobodova, D.; Chipangura, J.; Alderson, D.; Prakash, V. M.; Naidoo, V. Metabolism of aceclofenac in cattle to vulture-killing diclofenac. Conservation Biology 2016, 5, 1122–1127. Green, R. E.; Donázar, J. A.; Sánchez-Zapata, J. A.; Margalida, A. J. Appl. Ecol. 2016, 53 (4), 993–1003. Richards, N.; Ogada, D. Royal Society of Chemistry-Environmental Chemistry Group-Bulletin 2015, 17–19. Richards, N. L. Detection of Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflamatory Drugs in Hair, Nails and Feathers Using GC-MS with Emphasis on Diclofenac; A Forensic Tool for Wildlife Conservation, Ph.D. Thesis, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, 2010.

140 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

Foundation for Analytical Science in Africa and Its ... - ACS Publications

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