With Monkgomotsi Maseng (Part 1)
exactly what you do in your work?
I work with medical laboratory students and pharmacy students in the lab, teaching and demonstrating the lab practices in the areas of bacteriology, parasitology and molecular biology. I also mentor them in their research work. I also do research work; my focus currently is on human genetics and HIV drug resistance. My research looks at how people respond to antiretroviral drugs in the hope of developing personalized medicine diagnostics to reduce side effects and have more effective treatment.
What are the main health and safety issues for lab scientists?
Lab scientists are at risk of contracting infectious diseases from human samples that they handle on daily basis. Some of these can be highly contagious. We are also exposed to carcinogenic chemicals t that we use in the lab.
What is a typical day like for you as a scientist and has it changed during the pandemic (if yes) how?
Preparing for a practical class of around 35 students and conducting the class by teaching and demonstrating to them. If not with students, I’m in the research lab doing my experiments or at my desk doing some write up (manuscripts for publishing) for the research work I do or applying for research grants in areas of interest.
This has changed since that pandemic. It has gotten busier. Hours in the lab with students have extended as we split them into groups. In my spare time, I continue to offer my services, to help with COVID -19 testing at Botswana Harvard Partnership Lab. I have also since embarked on another project of raising awareness of gender equity in science