Page 14 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

OND
ERSTEPOORT 100
C. Rimington and family in South Africa 1934
Onderstepoort in collaboration with the Toxicology Section as described in Part 3: Toxicology.
In the period immediately before, during and after World War II, a number of young chemists and biochemists spent some time at Onderstepoort before establishing them- selves elsewhere. One of these was H.O. de Waal, who later became Professor in Organic Chemistry at
the University of Pretoria. Of considerable
importance was the discovery by the
young J.S.C. (Claude) Marais in 1944 of monofluoro-acetate as the toxic principle
of gifblaar, a toxic plant causing sudden
The section also assisted other researchers in determining the nutritional requirements of microbes and cell cultures and during the late 1950s a sophisticated laboratory was established under the leadership of H.W. Radmacher, an immigrant from Germany, for the determination of trace elements. Again a national survey was launched, this time of trace elements in natural pastures. Other work included studies of the vitamin A requirements of ruminants and cobalt deficiency in sheep.
During the same period a research group was established by W.J. (Willem) Serfontein, combining his expertise in organic chemistry with the microbiological background of his co-worker Horst Weyland (another young immigrant from Germany) to investigate the use of bacteria as analytical tools in the determination of micro-nutrients. Weyland carried on with this work when Serfontein later moved to the Medical Faculty of the University of Pretoria, where he established himself as an expert in human nutrition and food supplementation. In 1956 D.W. (Daan) Verwoerd, who had qualified as a veterinarian the previous year, joined the group and was seconded to the University of Pretoria to study for an MSc in biochemistry. The research for his thesis, on the isolation of the epsilon toxin of Clostridium perfringens type D, was carried out in Serfontein’s laboratory, and a request by the latter to assist him in the preparation of a seminar on the recently published work of
104 death in ruminants in the northern parts of
the country. It was subsequently also found
in a number of toxic plants in other parts
of the world. Marais left Onderstepoort
shortly after the discovery, but returned
much later as Assistant Director, respon-
sible for biochemistry and related disci-
plines until his retirement. His predecessor
in this position was J.G. (Jakob) Louw,
who replaced A.I. Malan as head of the
Biochemistry Section when the latter re-
signed in 1945. Malan’s resignation was in response to the Smuts government prohibiting membership by civil servants of the Afrikaner Broederbond, a pro-Afrikaner organization opposed to the war effort. Louw later played a leading role in the Public Servants Association and finally became a commissioner in the Public Service Commission until his retirement in the early 1960s. H. (Herman) Reinach succeeded Louw as head of the Biochemistry Section and continued with the routine functions allocated to his laboratory. These mainly consisted of chemical analysis and statutory control of all animal feeds which had to be registered under Act 36 of 1947 before being offered for sale to the public.
“Of considerable importance was the discovery by the young
J.S.C. (Claude) Marais
in 1944 of monofluoro- acetate as the toxic principle of gifblaar, a toxic plant causing sudden death in ruminants in the northern parts of the country.”
Watson and Crick
on DNA structure was the spark for his life- long interest in the emerging new field of molecular biology. After obtaining his MSc, Verwoerd was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship for study in Germany. He spent two years at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, under Nobel Prize winner A. Butenandt, and a further year at its sister institute for Virology in Tübingen. His research in Munich on the chemical hydrolysis of DNA as a first step towards its sequence analysis earned him a DSc in Biochemistry from the University of Pretoria in 1963.
Molecular Biology
On his return to Onderstepoort in 1963
Verwoerd took over the laboratory of Weyland, who had returned to Germany to rescue his family from East Germany when the Berlin wall was erected. At first Verwoerd continued with a study started in Tübingen on the biochemical effect of infection by an enteric virus on its host cell, but then in 1964 he took the crucial step of establishing a Molecular Biology Section with the mandate to study viruses of veterinary importance at the molecular level. After consultation with his colleagues in Virology it was decided to concentrate on the virus causing bluetongue in sheep, an economically important animal disease. At that time very little was known about the virus in terms of morphology, structure, replication and even its classification. It had only recently been
PART 3
History of Individual Disciplines
1908-2008
Years