Pearly Joubert chats MSc in Neuroscience, Women in Science Award

It’s been a bumper year-and-a-bit for Pearly Joubert. She completed her honours in neuroscience and physiology at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2022 and jumped straight into her master’s (with a slightly different research focus).

It didn’t end there. Joubert founded a startup uMama (mother in isiXhosa) to reduce the high rates of maternal and fetal mortality in rural Africa. She was selected to lead UCT’s Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP), a new society that uses entrepreneurship to empower women students. She also serves as president of the Women in Synthetic Biology Africa – an initiative of the SynBio Africa organisation, which unites African scientists dedicated to developing a healthier, safer and sustainable world through synthetic biology.

So, it’s been a whirlwind, but the good kind. And with great effort comes great reward. In August, Joubert received the Department of Science and Innovation’s (DSI) Esther Mahlangu Master’s Fellowship, which forms part of the 2024 Women in Science Awards – a definite highlight as an early career researcher.

“This award truly means so much to me. I never imagined winning one like this so early on in my research journey,” she said.

Fittingly, Joubert said, the theme for this year’s Women in Science Awards was “Transition towards an innovation economy: The role of women leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics”. And this resonates with her on multiple levels due to her passion for solving pressing challenges informed by scientific research.

Now that the dust has settled, UCT News spoke to Joubert to get insight into her research and where she’s at, and for more on her brainchild, uMama, why it was important to set it up and her plans for the startup.

The effect of adjunctive acupuncture on the brain

In simple speak, Joubert’s MSc explores how the brain’s structural-functional connectivity, which helps shape neurophysiological activity and influence movement, responds to adjunctive acupuncture (the insertion of thin needles into the skin at strategic points to facilitate healing). Her research focuses particularly on a group of Chinese ischemic stroke patients with hemiplegia – paralysis affecting just one side of the body and impacts patients’ ability to perform everyday activities.

“The research findings could provide crucial insights into determining the most effective rehabilitation pathway for ischemic stroke patients.”

And it’s for this reason, she said, that treating ischemic stroke patients requires a multidisciplinary team, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists to improve their mobility and facilitate their path to recovery. But multidisciplinary teams are not well established in China. And while physiotherapy is recognised and recommended as a form of treatment, the neuro-mechanisms of acupuncture, which physiotherapists use to provide a range of benefits like pain relief and to reduce muscle spasm and joint stiffness, are poorly understood.

So, to measure its effects, Joubert’s randomised control trial is divided into two treatment groups: true acupuncture and physiotherapy, and physiotherapy and sham acupuncture (placebo or non-acupoint acupuncture). A group of right-handed male ischemic stroke patients between the ages of 46 and 70 are participating in her study; all of them are Chinese. She will document how they respond to treatment in her dissertation under key findings.

“The research findings could provide crucial insights into determining the most effective rehabilitation pathway for ischemic stroke patients, whether through true acupuncture and physiotherapy or sham (placebo) acupuncture and physiotherapy. This research aims to enhance our understanding of how different rehabilitation strategies aid neuroplasticity and motor improvement,” Joubert said.

Social entrepreneur

Like a full-time, demanding master’s programme was not enough, Joubert also founded uMama to reduce maternal and fetal mortality rates in rural Africa using agriculture. She explained that when she first established the startup, research showed that anaemia (due to poor access to a nutritious diet) is a major concern for pregnant women in the southern region of Malawi.

And because 70% of farmers in Malawi are women, who face several challenges including gender discrimination, sparse access to the markets men in the country have access to, exploitation by the middleman, and difficulty with securing financial aid due to a lack of credit history and collateral, the startup saw an opportunity to address these head on. Thanks to various programmes, uMama trains women farmers to grow nutritious, climate-resilient crops that are guaranteed to benefit everyone in the community and empowers women farmers to grow their businesses and boost their financial independence.

“Helping women farmers mean helping a community and our vision is for our women farmers to become leaders who uplift their communities.”  

She said as the president of SWEEP, she has learned the importance of financial independence, especially for women. And she believes that entrepreneurship has the power to provide it, which is why it’s essential to invest in women entrepreneurs.

“Women entrepreneurs require a lot more support, not only because they can drive significant development but because they are often more motivated to create social impact through their ventures,” she said. “With financial independence, the women uMama works with would be able to afford to eat a healthy, nutritious diet during pregnancy and after giving birth – ultimately, improving maternal nutrition. Helping women farmers mean helping a community and our vision is for our women farmers to become leaders who uplift their communities.”

What’s on the horizon?

As she pours her focus into the statistical analysis stage of her MSc, Joubert said she is excited to review, weigh up and measure her findings, and finally wrap-up her thesis.

It’s been a jam-packed year, and as an early-career researcher, her work doesn’t end here.

With her fellowship winnings, plans are already afoot to attend the Organization for Human Brain Mapping meeting or the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, both next year. These events, she said, join scientists from around the world who work in the field of neuroimaging. So, it would be an opportune moment to connect, network, share her research and learn from others.

Believe it or not, she’s also been exploring what comes after graduation, and a PhD in Biotechnology might be next. For the moment, she said, she is feverishly concluding her dissertation and counting her blessings. And there is a long list of people, including her beloved family for whom she’s forever grateful.

“There are a few people who have been in it with me, and I would not be here without them. They know who they are. They give new meaning to the phrase: I am because we are,” she said.