As per our Business Plan for the current phase of the CBTBR, the following services were provided in 2007:

The provision of scientific/ technical service, advice and assistance to local Government, regional services, institutions, research groups and individuals

Thesis examination

• Prof. Mizrahi served as Internal Examiner of a PhD thesis submitted to Wits University and as Assessor of a PhD thesis submitted to the University of Cape Town.
• Nominated external examiner for University of Witwatersrand MSc thesis (submission December 2007)
• External examiner for University of Cape Town MSc(Med) Medical Virology thesis (October 2007)
• Internal examiner for PhD candidate Me R. Johnson, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Stellenbosch (September 2007)
• External examiner for University of Cape Town MSc(Med) Medical Microbiology (July 2007)

Journal editing and reviews

• Prof. Mizrahi served on the Editorial Advisory Boards of the Biochemical Journal, Tuberculosis, and the International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. During the period under review, she also reviewed manuscripts submitted to the following journals: Nature Medicine, Microbiology, BMC Infectious Diseases, International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, the Biochemical Journal, Molecular Microbiology, Journal of Bacteriology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, Trends in Microbiology and Nature Reviews Microbiology.
• Dr. Warner reviewed manuscripts submitted to Microbiology, Microbial Pathogenesis, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and Journal of Medical Microbiology.
• Dr. Gordhan reviewed a manuscript submitted to Parasitology.
• Dr NC Gey van Pittius is a member of the Editorial Board of the scientific journal “Journal of Infection in Developing Countries” (JIDC)(January 2007 - present) and Prof Walzl of Microbes and Infection. Reviewer for Manuscripts Submitted to the Journals “Molecular Biology and Evolution”, “Journal of Infection in Developing Countries”, “Journal of Bacteriology”, “Journal of Medical Microbiology”, “American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine”, “Tuberculosis” and Journal of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.
• Prof van Helden was on editorial board of IUBMB Life, Microbes and Infection and J Mol. Med (expired).

Promotion reviews

• Prof. Mizrahi reviewed applications for promotion at Cornell University and the National Institutes of Health (USA) and for fellowship of the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World.
• Prof. van Helden reviewed applications for promotion at Harvard University

Expert Panel or Committee Membership

• Prof. Mizrahi served on the Jury of the L’OREAL-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards for 2008, which met in Paris on October 4-6, 2007.
• Prof. Mizrahi was served on the WHO/TDR Steering Committee on Genomics and Discovery Research. As part of this responsibility, she attended a three-day Steering Committee meeting in Geneva in May 2007 at which a large number of proposals submitted for funding under this WHO/TDR program were evaluated. Project progress was also monitored during the course of the year.
• Prof. Mizrahi served on the Scientific Advisory Board of New Medicines for TB (NM4TB), which is a multi-national EU-funded TB drug discovery program.
• Prof. Mizrahi served on the Fellowships Committee of the University of the Witwatersrand, the Entities Review Sub-Committee of the Faculty Research Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Wits University, and on the Executive Committee of the School of Pathology of Wits University.
• Drs. Gordhan, Kana and Warner served on the Safety Committee of the NHLS Central Branch (Braamfontein).
• Dr. Kana and Dr. Warner served on the Wits University Molecular Biosciences Thrust Committee
• Dr. Kana was appointed as Head Controller of the NHLS Disaster Management Committee
• Various CBTBR members served on Postgraduate Subcommittees for evaluation of PhD applications to Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Stellenbosch (September 2007)
• Dr Gey van Pittius was a member of the THRIP Review Panel for NRF-THRIP Health Grant Applications   (2005-2007).
• Prof. Van Helden assisted with review for the Rolex Awards.

Examples of Research Funding Reviews

• Prof. Mizrahi reviewed applications for funding submitted to the Israel Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She served on the Thematic Program Review Panel of the CSIR, and the Microbiology Panel of the NRF.
• Dr. Gordhan reviewed grant applications submitted to the NRF,
• Dr. Kana reviewed applications submitted to the MRC (Self-Initiated Research Program), and
• Dr. Warner reviewed application submitted to the NHLS Research Trust, NRF Innovation Fund (Technology Advancement Program) and LIFElab (Durban).
• Prof. van Helden reviewed grant applications for NWO, Netherlands Genomics Initiative, Netherlands.
• Prof. van Helden and other core members of the sU node were external reviewers for the National Research Foundation (NRF) Grant applications (September 2007) and for the Medical Research Council and NHLS Grant applications.
• Prof. van Helden reviewed application for LIFElab and a number of GMO release applications for the NDA.
• Dr Gey van Pittius was appointed to grants committee of NRF(2006-2007)

Provision of BSL-3 Laboratory Guidelines and BSL-3 training

• A complete BSL-3 SOP complied by the SU node is available. This SOP was used as guideline for containment laboratory management by Medical Microbiology in Tygerberg Hospital. The BL3 SOP is made freely available to anyone that requires assistance with handling pathogenic mycobacteria. Short-term researchers from Africa, overseas and locally are regularly trained BL3 procedures. This training has been recognized by other institutes e.g. Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Similarly, members of the Wits node assisted Dr. E. Marais (Wits/ NHLS) with the establishment of a new BSL-3 laboratory for use in TB diagnostics and genotyping work.

Other Services Rendered by CBTBR members

• External examiner for University of Cape Town Honours Degree Course in Infectious Diseases and Immunology (August - November 2007)
• Speciation of Non Tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) for the ZAMSTAR study
• Speciation of Non Tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) for the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and Kruger National Park
• Provision of reagents to Pathcare Reference Laboratory
• Advisor to the NHLS tuberculosis laboratory on the development of a PCR facility (2007).
• Speciation of clinical isolates and Non Tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) for the Otsuka clinical trial (2007).
• Drug Susceptibility testing of clinical for 2 Military Hospital (2007).
• Speciation of mycobacterial cultures for Pathcare Veterinary Pathologists (2007).
• Design and provision of transport media to NHLS for the culture of FNA (2007).
• We have assisted by testing all farm employees in a proactive way for both M tb and M bovis, in a recent outbreak in a major dairy area of the Eastern Cape
• We provided advice Dr. Z. Kirsten (NIOH) on BSL-3 practices and on real-time RT-PCR and ad hoc advice on DNA microarray technology to the Vectrol Control Research Unit at the NICD.