DIPLOMICS

01/09/2026

South Africans mark the 1st of September as Spring Day, and the blushing bride is right on cue. Serruria florida flowers from July to October, so its short blooming window is happening right now, on the same slopes near Franschhoek it has bloomed on for generations.

Getting its genome sequenced this season felt fitting: one more piece of a fragile species captured while it's actually in flower.

Full species card and data: 1ksa.org.za/species-cards/serruria-florida

28/08/2026

Three of the four Clivia genomes came together the way you hope every genome will. The fourth, Clivia miniata, didn't.

It meant going back to re-extract the DNA, re-trimming the data, and rethinking how the assembly used CHPC's computing time before it would resolve properly. That's the part of genomics that doesn't make it onto a results slide: the iterating, the troubleshooting, the going back to the bench.

This week, it paid off.

For more on this story, come find us at SASBi/SAGS, 1 to 3 September, see you there!

28/08/2026

Meet Sideroxylon inerme, the white milkwood. The name literally means “iron wood,” a nod to timber so dense it earned the tree a reputation long before anyone sequenced its DNA.

Along South Africa’s coast, the white milkwood is a protected species: fire-resistant, a natural windbreak, and in places, a genuine piece of history. In Cape Town’s Woodstock, the “Treaty Tree” has stood for 500 years as a witness to the country’s colonial past.

On the Agulhas Plain, Grootbos Private Nature Reserve holds some of the last great milkwood forests left, forests that wildfires in 2006 and again in 2025 came close to destroying.

Through its Future Trees project, Grootbos Green Futures Foundation is restoring those forest edges using historical aerial photography from 1932 and seed collected from local genetic stock, work led on the ground by research manager Paula Strauss.

That’s where 1KSA comes in. By sequencing the white milkwood’s genome, 1KSA and DIPLOMICS are helping build the genomic library that shows how milkwood populations relate to each other, how they adapt, and which trees carry the strongest resilience, so that restoration work like this is backed by more than instinct.

28/08/2026

Meet Sideroxylon inerme, the white milkwood. The name literally means "iron wood," a nod to timber so dense it earned the tree a reputation long before anyone sequenced its DNA.

Along South Africa's coast, the white milkwood is a protected species: fire-resistant, a natural windbreak, and in places, a genuine piece of history. In Cape Town's Woodstock, the "Treaty Tree" has stood for 500 years as a witness to the country's colonial past.

On the Agulhas Plain, Grootbos Private Nature Reserve holds some of the last great milkwood forests left, forests that wildfires in 2006 and again in 2025 came close to destroying.

Through its Future Trees project, Grootbos foundation is restoring those forest edges using historical aerial photography from 1932 and seed collected from local genetic stock, work led on the ground by research manager Paula Strauss.

That's where 1KSA comes in. By sequencing the white milkwood's genome, 1KSA and DIPLOMICS are helping build the genomic library that shows how milkwood populations relate to each other, how they adapt, and which trees carry the strongest resilience, so that restoration work like this is backed by more than instinct.

Watch the full story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKgzka_8q7E

Nyd de videoer og den musik, du holder af, upload originalt indhold, og del det hele med venner, familie og verden på YouTube.

21/08/2026

The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, present and necessary in all women and men, are best known for their association with breast and ovarian cancer risk. Women who carry certain variants in these genes have a significantly elevated lifetime risk of developing breast cancer compared to the general population.

But carrying a BRCA pathogenic variant is not a sentence. It is information. And information creates options: increased surveillance, preventive measures, and treatment decisions that can be made earlier and with greater precision.

Genomic testing is making it possible for more women to access that information. Understanding your genetic risk does not mean living in fear of it. It means being equipped to make informed decisions about your own health.

This Women's Month, DIPLOMICS celebrates the science that puts knowledge, and power, in women's hands.

Source: National Cancer Institute. BRCA Gene Mutations: Cancer Risk and Genetic Testing.

18/08/2026

World Breast Cancer Research Day is observed on 18 August. It is a day to acknowledge the science that has transformed outcomes for millions of women, and to ask what comes next.

From genomics and molecular diagnostics to targeted therapies and early detection tools, the landscape of breast cancer research has shifted dramatically in recent decades. But the work is far from finished.

We want to know what you think. Where should research be focusing its energy? Drop your thoughts in the comments.

09/08/2026

The mitochondrial genome is small, just 16,569 base pairs compared to the roughly 3 billion in the nuclear genome. But what it carries is extraordinary.

Inherited exclusively through the maternal line, mitochondrial DNA has allowed scientists to trace human ancestry, reconstruct ancient migration routes, and identify our shared origins in Africa. The concept of Mitochondrial Eve, the most recent common matrilineal ancestor of all living humans, is one of the most remarkable findings in modern genomics.

This Women's Month, DIPLOMICS celebrates the science that reveals just how central women are to the story of human life on Earth.

Source: Cann, Stoneking and Wilson, 1987, Nature. Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution.

30/07/2026

National Science Month is a good time to remember that science does not start in a laboratory. It starts with a question.

Why does this happen? What if we tried it differently? What is actually going on here? Those questions do not require a laboratory or a PhD. They require curiosity, and curiosity is something every single person has.

Science becomes more powerful when more people feel invited into the conversation. Not as passive recipients of findings, but as the source of the questions that drive research forward. The challenges South Africa faces in health, biodiversity, food security, and climate are too important to be left to scientists alone.

So we are asking: what would you want to know? Drop your question in the comments. You might be surprised how close science already is to an answer.

DIPLOMICS is funded by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation.

29/07/2026

For National Science Month, DIPLOMICS is exploring the theme of science for decision-makers.

Evidence-based decision-making is only possible when the evidence exists. In health, conservation, agriculture, and beyond, the quality of the data informing policy directly affects the quality of the outcomes it produces. Gaps in that data do not go unnoticed. They show up in delayed diagnoses, misallocated resources, and responses that arrive too late.

Omics science, the genomic, proteomic, metabolomic and bioinformatics analysis of biological systems, is one of the most powerful tools available for generating the kind of precise, actionable biological data that good decisions depend on. DIPLOMICS, funded by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, is building the infrastructure and skills that makes that data available to South African researchers, clinicians, and policymakers.

28/07/2026

For National Science Month, DIPLOMICS is exploring the theme of science diplomacy.

Science has always crossed borders. Data is shared, methods are standardised, and discoveries build on discoveries made in laboratories on the other side of the world. But for too long, Africa has been a source of samples and subjects rather than a generator of knowledge.

That is changing. Across genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and beyond, South African scientists are producing omics data that contributes to the global scientific record. The platforms DIPLOMICS has built make that possible, giving South African researchers the infrastructure to generate, analyse, and share world-class science from within the continent.
Science diplomacy is not only about formal agreements between governments. It is about who sits at the table when knowledge is being created. South Africa is pulling up a chair.

DIPLOMICS is funded by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation.