Type 1 diabetes is threatening the lives of about 17-million people worldwide, and this number is increasing. The financial burden associated with the treatment of this serious, debilitating disease is enormous. Early diagnosis and intervention are vital in the fight against the life-threatening complications of the disease.
Enter Dr Carolyn Padoa, senior medical scientist at the National Health Laboratory Service in Johannesburg. This pint-sized scientist’s research is making the medical fraternity sit up and take notice, and has already raked in several prestigious awards and grants.
Yet she got involved in research on diabetes “by chance”, says Padoa. While completing her masters on XX true hermaphroditism, she was offered a position at the National Health Laboratory Service to engineer recombinant Fabs (a small portion of the antibody molecule that contains the binding site) for diabetes, specifically to see whether these could be used for the screening and treatment of types 1 and 2 diabetes.
“Antibody engineering is a perpetually exciting field to work in,” she says, “and it attracts scientists from across the globe. It is in the forefront of science, and every discovery is a new breakthrough for medicine.”
Not that the work is always easy. She tells of long hours, experiments that go awry, adjusting your approach and then readjusting that.
“Sometimes it feels as if you’re hitting your head against a brick wall, and this is where the incredibly supportive role played by mentors comes in,” she explains. She spent 18 months in the United States to learn techniques from two leading scientists in the field, Dr ×ke Lernmark and Dr Christiane Hampe. She describes how, as a naive and very nervous young student, they took her under their wing and showed her the ropes.
Padoa feels that more can be done to communicate the breakthroughs achieved by South African researchers to society. “Scientists to a large extent work in a world hidden away from the general public,” she says.
Although she bemoans the fact that female learners and students are not aware of the many diverse careers available to them in science, she is full of praise for the Department of Science and Technology and L’Oréal for their initiatives, such as the Women in Science Awards to raise the profile of women scientists.
Padoa, still a very new mom (daughter Gabriella was born in February this year), says that she faces a new challenge in the near future — learning to balance home and career when she returns to work. But she is looking forward to resuming her career, this time to try and find a cure for diabetes.