Human health is influenced by many factors: diet, exercise, family history, and — believe it or not — gravity. The Earth’s gravitational pull, or its absence, affects the movement of fluid throughout the body, impacting blood flow. As space travel becomes more common, it’s crucial to understand the body’s reaction to changes in gravity and its effects on astronauts’ health. Using tilt tables, researchers from the Bioastronautics and Human Performance (BHP) Laboratory at Texas A&M University are investigating the effects of different gravity levels on the body, all without leaving campus.

A new inhalable nanomedicine developed at the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP) could help outwit one of humanity’s oldest diseases—tuberculosis (TB).

Dr Lindokuhle Ngema, a postdoctoral researcher at WADDP, has engineered a nanosystem capable of delivering all four standard TB drugs directly into the lungs, where the bacteria that cause the disease—Mycobacterium tuberculosis—hide and persist. The formulation aims to bypass the liver and bloodstream, reduce drug loss, and concentrate medication precisely at the site of infection.

“TB is clever—it hides in lung pockets where oral drugs can’t reach. Our system is designed to be smarter and to go exactly where it’s needed,” says Ngema.

TB remains a leading cause of death worldwide, claiming more than 56,000 lives in South Africa alone in 2023. Current treatments require months of daily pills and can cause severe side effects, fuelling poor adherence and the emergence of drug-resistant TB.

By transforming TB therapy into an inhalable treatment, WADDP researchers hope to improve patient adherence, shorten treatment duration, and reduce resistance. The nanosystem’s movement through the lungs will be tracked in collaboration with the Nuclear Medicine Research Institute (NuMeRI), using nuclear imaging to confirm delivery to “hidden” infection sites.

When Brooke Boeding looked for employers willing to hire undergraduate engineering students, she knew she could rely on her co-op adviser. They match students with companies in a program called cooperative education. Students divide the year between classroom instruction and full-time employment with a firm in their chosen field. But co-op advisers also help graduating students kindle their new careers.