research
NEW DNA
TESTING CENTER AT NUST
analysis expensive and as
a result the Zimbabwean
population remains behind
in the utilisation of this
ground breaking technology in its justice, medical
and agricultural systems.
The AGTC will focus on
human identification including; individual DNA
profiling and data basing,
establishment of parentage
and other biological relationships for immigration and
medical applications as well
as forensic applications including sexual assault cases.
We envisage that our uniformed forces will take
Prof. Z Dlamini chairman of the Department of Applied Biology
advantage of this technological
advancement
by the Reaseach and Innovation Office
which is now within reach and create databases of
fulfilling our mission which is to con- their members’ DNA fingerprints for ease of identifitribute positively towards the advance- cation as is the norm the world over. Gone are the days
ment of humanity through the provision of having tombs of the unknown solders, we are now
of knowledge based solutions to scientific, technologi- equipped to identify any remains of our service personnel.
cal, economic and social challenges, we have established
the first DNA testing facility in the Zimbabwean public sector,” said Mr Z. Dhlamini from Applied Biology.
“In
This facility is called the Applied Genetic Testing Centre (AGTC) and is housed in the Laboratories in
the Department of Applied Biology and Biochemistry. The mandate of the AGTC is to operate a DNA
analysis laboratory in Zimbabwe with state-of-theart infrastructure and using advanced molecular genetics techniques to deliver affordable high quality services in human, livestock and pathogen identification.
We have already equipped the centre with state of the
art DNA amplification and analysis machines as well as
internationally certified reagents, all to the tune of $350000.
DNA fingerprint machine
In the area of human identification using DNA, the Zimbabwean public has dependent on laboratories in South
Africa, the UK and USA, this scenario makes DNA
JULY 2015. CM. Page 9