Dr Devina Lobine : a scientist delving into world of plants to cure alzheimea

In her short career span, young and dynamic scientist Dr Devina Lobine, also known as Meenakshi Lobine, has authored 19 publications as well as attended several international conferences. Country Ambassador of Southern Africa Network for Biosciences, this inspiring lady is in the saddle to revolutionise the scientific field among the younger generation. Another achievement to be unlocked is her investigation about Alzheimer disease. 
 
Dr Devina Lobine is currently registered as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Mauritius, investigating on the potential of plants as therapeutic for managing Alzheimer’s disease. She reveals that she started to develop an increasing interest in Neuropharmacology during her tenure at Durham University. 

Another interesting feature in the endeavour of this ardent scientist is her contribution in promoting science not only in Mauritius but also in Africa. She confides that since she had a genuine interest in promoting science and helping the African scientific community, she enthusiastically joined the Southern Africa Network for Biosciences (SANBio) as a Youth Ambassador. “In my role as ambassador, I am actively engaged to promote biosciences and foster bio-innovation in young minds in Southern African countries. I am also involved in informing students and researchers about workshops, training and funding opportunities through different platforms and social networks, as well as in organizing workshops and training.”

She underlines that SANBio is bridging the gap between science and industry to contribute to the economic development of Southern Africa. “For me, SANBio is a platform through which I represent the women force and I am working towards breaking down the glass ceiling and gender bias so as to ensure that more women are empowered to be in science fields. Furthermore, I am actively writing articles for SANBio newsletters. At the University of Mauritius, I am engaged in coaching undergraduate students, particularly train them in the laboratory and for doing data analysis. I also contribute to the journal club at the University.”

Her vision is to have an active empowered generation of young people, who have a say in deciding their future. “I firmly believe that with the right education and support, the knowledge and skills can be built upon to address the major challenges faced including malnutrition, diseases, biodiversity loss and climate change in Africa.”

Moreover, during her stay at Durham University in UK, she realised that students pursuing science studies in Mauritius do not receive enough exposure to the real nature of science. “Performing research in a laboratory and just keeping the information in the lab book will take us nowhere. Science should be translated from the laboratory to the real world, whereby the right information is used for the right purpose and for this to happen, we need leadership, the proper channels and means of supports. As Mauritius does not have the infrastructure to exploit the naturally talented indigenous personnel and their ideas, I felt we need to collaborate with the international research community.”

Science in Mauritius 

Dr Lobine points out that Mauritius holds an immense potential to become a continent-wide hub for cutting-edge innovations and scientific discovery, but yet it is lagging behind in development. According to her, reasons hindering the development of science are numerous, ranging from low investment to lack of infrastructure. “The problem is more deep-rooted. The young generation at college level are scared to choose science studies but they are well aware about the job scarcity in this field. So, if the Government wishes to encourage the young people to choose the science field, it is important to create jobs for graduates. Moreover, the graduates tend to leave the country to find jobs somewhere else.”

Career pathway 

In a short span, she has been able to author 19 publications (11 published scientific papers, four book sections and four published abstracts). Additionally, she was a finalist of the FemBioBiz acceleration Programme-Season 1, whereby she pitched her idea for a bio-business at the South African Innovative Summit 2017. This promising scientist, a resident of St Julien D’Hotman, started her career at the University of Mauritius in Agricultural Biotechnology. 

She chose this field knowing that it will empower her for her future career to address challenges related to conservation, agriculture and pharmaceutics. After graduating, she joined the Food and Agricultural Research Council where she worked as an Assistant Research Scientist for a year. The strong passion for science and the enthusiasm for doing constructive work have pushed her to join the world of research as a postgraduate student. Since then there was no looking back; she created her own pathway and continued her studies. In October 2017, she graduated with a Ph.D. in Natural Product.