African Microbiomes and the Frontiers of Science | Professor Thulani Makhalanyane on Health, Agriculture and Innovation
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What if the answers to some of Africa's biggest health and food security challenges are too small to see? Professor Thulani Makhalanyane, Professor in Microbiology at Stellenbosch University and recently appointed SARChI Research Chair in African Microbiome Innovation, joins Dr Katlego Letlonkane on SiyaKhulaLive to explore the world of microbiomes and what they mean for the future of African health, agriculture and the environment.
Professor Makhalanyane leads research into the trillions of microorganisms that occupy every system imaginable, from soil to the human gut, and the beneficial roles most of them play, far beyond the small minority that cause illness. His work sits at the intersection of genomics, agricultural science and biotechnology, and he has built a career around a gap he identified early on: the overwhelming majority of global microbiome research has focused on the global north, leaving African microbial diversity, some of the richest and least understood in the world, largely unstudied. Through the African Microbiome Project, he is working to close that gap by building local sequencing capacity, shaping equitable research partnerships with global north institutions, and training the next generation of African microbiome scientists.
The conversation moves from first principles (what a microbiome actually is, and why classical microscopy could never capture most of it) into the practical stakes of the research: engineering microbial inoculants that could improve nitrogen fixation and agricultural productivity, and building the case that African populations and ecosystems must be studied on their own terms rather than as an afterthought to research done elsewhere. Professor Makhalanyane also reflects on his own path into science, the responsibilities that come with holding a national research chair, and why he believes biology, unlike most other fields, is likely to remain resistant to automation.
What we cover in this episode:
- What a microbiome actually is: Professor Makhalanyane explains microbiomes as the full community of microorganisms occupying a given environment, whether that's a swab from a keyboard, the human gut, or a handful of soil, and why the small fraction of "bad" bacteria we're taught to fear obscures the much larger, largely unknown role played by beneficial microbial communities.
- The technology gap behind the research gap: he traces the historical lag in African microbiome research back to a lack of advanced genomic sequencing capability, since most microorganisms cannot be grown or studied under laboratory conditions using classical microscopy alone.
- Agriculture and biological fertilisers: the discussion turns to how bacteria enable processes like nitrogen fixation in plants, and how his research group is working to engineer microbial inoculants that could make agricultural systems, including in arid environments, significantly more productive.
- Equity in global science: Professor Makhalanyane argues that excluding African populations and ecosystems from microbiome research isn't just an oversight but a missed opportunity, given that Africa is among the few regions still expecting population growth, and describes the African Microbiome Project's work on equitable collaboration frameworks with labs in the global north.
- Careers, curiosity and the SARChI chair: he speaks candidly about finding his way into microbiology through undergraduate research rather than a childhood ambition, what the national research chair means in terms of obligations to train students and produce publishable, high-impact work, and his view that biology will remain one of the more automation-resistant scientific careers.
Stream MFM 92.6: www.mfm.co.za
Follow us on socials: @mfm926
Professor Makhalanyane leads research into the trillions of microorganisms that occupy every system imaginable, from soil to the human gut, and the beneficial roles most of them play, far beyond the small minority that cause illness. His work sits at the intersection of genomics, agricultural science and biotechnology, and he has built a career around a gap he identified early on: the overwhelming majority of global microbiome research has focused on the global north, leaving African microbial diversity, some of the richest and least understood in the world, largely unstudied. Through the African Microbiome Project, he is working to close that gap by building local sequencing capacity, shaping equitable research partnerships with global north institutions, and training the next generation of African microbiome scientists.
The conversation moves from first principles (what a microbiome actually is, and why classical microscopy could never capture most of it) into the practical stakes of the research: engineering microbial inoculants that could improve nitrogen fixation and agricultural productivity, and building the case that African populations and ecosystems must be studied on their own terms rather than as an afterthought to research done elsewhere. Professor Makhalanyane also reflects on his own path into science, the responsibilities that come with holding a national research chair, and why he believes biology, unlike most other fields, is likely to remain resistant to automation.
What we cover in this episode:
- What a microbiome actually is: Professor Makhalanyane explains microbiomes as the full community of microorganisms occupying a given environment, whether that's a swab from a keyboard, the human gut, or a handful of soil, and why the small fraction of "bad" bacteria we're taught to fear obscures the much larger, largely unknown role played by beneficial microbial communities.
- The technology gap behind the research gap: he traces the historical lag in African microbiome research back to a lack of advanced genomic sequencing capability, since most microorganisms cannot be grown or studied under laboratory conditions using classical microscopy alone.
- Agriculture and biological fertilisers: the discussion turns to how bacteria enable processes like nitrogen fixation in plants, and how his research group is working to engineer microbial inoculants that could make agricultural systems, including in arid environments, significantly more productive.
- Equity in global science: Professor Makhalanyane argues that excluding African populations and ecosystems from microbiome research isn't just an oversight but a missed opportunity, given that Africa is among the few regions still expecting population growth, and describes the African Microbiome Project's work on equitable collaboration frameworks with labs in the global north.
- Careers, curiosity and the SARChI chair: he speaks candidly about finding his way into microbiology through undergraduate research rather than a childhood ambition, what the national research chair means in terms of obligations to train students and produce publishable, high-impact work, and his view that biology will remain one of the more automation-resistant scientific careers.
Stream MFM 92.6: www.mfm.co.za
Follow us on socials: @mfm926
