Nanotechnology - the "technology of the small" - is set to blaze new scientific trails in South Africa, and one of the most innovative research fields involves using gold in the fight against HIV/Aids.

The Department of Science and Technology recently launched a national nanotechnology strategy for South Africa, which will include a R450-million investment over the next three years.

The launch also corresponds with the opening of a national facility that will be housed at Mintek, a Johannesburg science council specialising in mineral and metallurgical technology.

The government views investment in nanotechnology as an opportunity to improve information technology, environmental sciences, health and industrial technology.

Specifically, the government is looking at investing in technology that can purify mine waste water, develop lower-cost solar cells for energy, and develop drugs that work against biological diseases - all areas where nanotechnology has shown promise.

Housed at Mintek is a programme called Project AuTEK, which is a joint venture formed between Mintek, local universities, and the three major South African gold mining houses - AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold.

Within this project, AuTEK Biomed, headed by Dr Judy Caddy, focuses on creating gold-based chemo-therapeutics for diseases where there is a need for improved medicine, such as cancer, malaria and HIV/Aids.

Caddy said that since 2002 the team had been working on developing cancer drugs that are gold-based. Currently, the two largest-selling anti-cancer drugs are platinum-based. "We thought that if platinum could be used, why not gold?"

Caddy explained that gold-based drugs have an advantage over platinum-based drugs because gold drugs accumulate in the mitochondria or powerhouse of cells.

"On accumulation in the mitochondria, these drugs become toxic, resulting in cell death."

Caddy said the key is to ensure that the drugs are structurally fine-tuned so that they are selective, and destroy only unhealthy cancerous cells.

Last year, the team began HIV research to determine whether gold compounds can act as inhibitors to HIV.

"A wide range of novel gold compounds, synthesised by members of the AuTEK Biomed consortium, will be screened for potential activity against HIV. Compounds exhibiting inhibitory action towards the virus will be further developed and evaluated through extensive pre-clinical tests.

"The major objective of the pre-clinical studies will be to identify novel lead compounds that have high efficacy and low cytotoxicity, and to which resistant viral strains are not easily selected."

But the possibilities for the use of nanotechnology are limitless in South Africa, as the sector is still very new here.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Derek Hanekom said: "The value of nanotechnology is almost everywhere. There is very little that can't be developed from it."

Hanekom cautioned that investment in nanotechnology must include specific attention to the needs of people living in developing countries, in particular the poor. He said this would include a focus on better health systems and access to water and electricity.

Within the private sector, he said, nanotechnology had the potential of improving development of energy-efficient fuels, as well as aiding in the areas of mining and manufacturing.

This could be done by improving the utilisation of raw materials, and decreasing energy consumption and waste emissions, he added.

South Africa has to com-pete with countries around the world, such as Japan, India and the US, which each invest nearly a billion dollars annually on nanotechnology development.

(www.thestar.co.za)