Africa Genome Education Institute

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The Africa Genome Education Institute is dedicated to the public discussion of genetics and biotechnology in Africa. We seek to share, discuss, and disseminate information about genetics and biotechnology as it impacts upon the continent. The Teaching Biology Project is a program of the AGEI.

Darwin Trail

Darwin TrailThe Darwin Trail Map was launched officially on Sunday, 27 September 2009.

The map was presented to ten schools, using Interactive Telematic Technology through Stellenbosch University, a virtual teaching system which beams lessons out to learners through satellite broadcasting. We are very grateful to the Western Cape Education Department and the Stellenbosch University for allowing us to use lesson time to present this valuable resource.

Click here to see the map.

Darwin Seminar Next Events

Darwin Seminars 2010

On 9th March 2010 Anthropologist, Paleontologist and University Professor Nina Jablonski will discuss "Why human skin comes in colors"

Contact us for details or view the Events Schedule.
Genetic Discrimination: In defence of red hair
Written by Dr Wilmot James   
Wednesday, 08 August 2007 10:36

Scotland, the land of the red
Scotland, the land of the red
Less than 1 per cent of the human population has red hair but Scotland boasts a 13 per cent incidence. Red hair is regulated by a gene called the Melanocortin Receptor 1 or MCR1. 40 per cent of the Scottish population carry the recessive ‘red’ gene followed by Ireland at 35 per cent.

Redheads are also to be found in Wales, the USA, in North and West European countries – and Russia. The Berber and Kabylie populations of northern Algeria and Morocco have redheads, as do Northern India and Pakistan. Red hair is found commonly among the Pushtuns of Iran.
Read more... [Genetic Discrimination: In defence of red hair]
 
Darwin's Second Theory: sexual selection and genetic evolution
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 24 July 2007 05:21
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
"There is a fundamental difference between the sexes," says Professor Michael Cherry, of the Department of Botany and Zoology at Stellenbosch University. "Males have large numbers of small, mass-produced sperm, whereas females have large but limited numbers of eggs."

This asymmetry creates an enormous amount of competition between the sexes. And that pressure has consequences.

Professor Cherry will be presenting a Darwin Seminar at the University of Cape Town on 6 August. The series is a joint initiative of the Africa Genome Education Institute and the Division of Human Genetics at the University of Cape Town. His topic is "Sexual Selection -Darwin's Second Theory."
Read more... [Darwin's Second Theory: sexual selection and genetic evolution]
 
Review "Biotechnology and Health"
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 24 July 2007 05:22
The revolution in biotechnology has been less flashy and slower than the one in information technology which slammed into the world like a tsunami back in 1994. It was more than half-a-century ago that James Watson and Francis Crick, working in Cambridge in 1953, unlocked the structure of DNA and related it to genetic inheritance.

Yet, in terms of potential to change everything we know and experience, genetic engineering is by far the most important area of scientific endeavour. It touches on every aspect of world affairs: from the need from alternative fuels, to disease research, to ending hunger by producing high-yield crops.

South Africa has produced four Nobel prize-winners for science. Sydney Brenner is the most recent recipient. His efforts in elucidating controlled cell-death during organ development won him the 2002 award, after CAT scan co-inventor Allan Cormack, Max Theiler for his research on yellow fever, and Aaron Klug on macromolecules.

These four also, between them, indicate South Africa's greatest obstacles to becoming a world-leader in biotechnology. All four may have been born in South Africa but all completed their most seminal works in laboratories outside of the country.
Read more... [Review "Biotechnology and Health]
 
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