Muscles, motion and markets

Associate Professor Yumna Albertus, the director of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Health, Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Sport Research Centre (HPALS), embodies that rare combination of academic brilliance and a daring entrepreneurial spirit. She believes that teamwork makes the dream work.

Associate Professor Albertus’s work spans the spectrum from clinical rehabilitation to high-performance sport, but her deepest passion lies in understanding the neuromuscular system, particularly how muscles behave during human movement. And her mission is for her work to benefit society. “I don’t want science to just sit in a lab or on a publication page,” she said. “I want it to be meaningful and impactful.”

That desire has carried her from sprint tracks and volleyball courts in her youth to biomechanics labs, international collaborations, and, most recently, to the heart of an innovation start-up that could change how movement is studied worldwide.

Growing up in Cape Town, Albertus’s first love was athletics – sprinting and high jump. But when she attended Livingston High School in Claremont, the limited facilities offered her something else: a single volleyball court that became the centre of school life.

“That’s where my love for team sports came from,” she recalled. Later, as a UCT student, she played for the university’s volleyball team, where she learned the discipline and resilience of being part of a collective. “Whether you’re winning or losing, you have to work together. Those lessons in teamwork still guide me today, especially in building and leading teams.”

“Understanding muscle activity across phases of movement – that’s where I felt I could really contribute.”

Describing herself as a mother, sister, innovator, researcher, teacher, mentor, but always a learner, Albertus enrolled at UCT in 1997 and, driven by her fascination with both sport and science, set her sights on the highly competitive honours in exercise science programme. Only a handful of students were admitted each year. “I wasn’t a top student in high school, but I was very driven. I studied what makes a great exercise scientist and worked to showcase that in my application.” She succeeded, earning a coveted place in the programme in 2002.

Under the mentorship of UCT giants like professors Tim Noakes, Vicki Lambert, Mike Lambert, Wayne Derman, and Kit Vaughan, Albertus was exposed to a spectrum of research areas – from cardiovascular rehabilitation to high-performance training. But it was biomechanics and electromyography that captured her imagination. “The neuromuscular system fascinated me. Understanding muscle activity across phases of movement – that’s where I felt I could really contribute.”

Her research career flourished. She co-founded the South African Society of Biomechanics, was elected as a council member of the International Society of Biomechanics and helped position South Africa on the global research map. But as much as she thrived in academia, Albertus always sought ways to push science beyond its traditional boundaries.

A cheetah, a robot, and an idea

In 2019, Albertus’s trajectory took an unexpected turn. As part of UCT’s Next Generation Professoriate programme, she crossed paths with Associate Professor Amir Patel, a mechatronics engineer studying cheetah locomotion to design agile robots. Associate Professor Patel had developed a low-cost motion-capture system using GoPro cameras to track cheetah movement. But he needed biomechanics expertise and equipment to measure the forces coursing through the animal’s body.

When Albertus explained that standard force plates cost hundreds of thousands of rand each, Patel posed a provocative question: What if we just built our own?

“I told him, go ahead. Let’s see what you come up with,” she recalled. Patel and a master’s student designed a prototype force plate using simple load cells, enhanced with neural networks to replicate the expensive three-axis models used in elite labs. The results were astonishing.

“You can bring the best person into your team, but if you don’t gel with them, it won’t work. It’s about respect, trust, and a shared vision.”

With Albertus validating the data against gold-standard systems, the team realised they were onto something transformative. Their innovation promised to democratise access to biomechanics technology long dominated by high-cost equipment manufacturers. In 2021, with support from UCT’s Research Contracts and Innovation office, they patented the design and launched a start-up: AcinoTech, named after the cheetah (Acinonyx) that inspired it.

“Our vision is to increase access to movement-measuring technology,” Albertus said. “We are starting with developing force plates that can be used in human movement-high performance, clinical rehab or robotics, but we also have other tech in development that is being optimised in MSc projects (mmWave radar for the measurement of heart rate, muscle activity and breathing rate (touchless sensor).

Building a start-up while running a research centre

Developing AcinoTech has been exhilarating – and exhausting. The team has iterated through nearly 15 prototypes, refining the plates for accuracy, durability, and usability. Market analyses, including collaborations with international MBA students, revealed new opportunities beyond sports science, particularly in robotics.

But the biggest challenge has been time. “To run a start-up properly, you need someone’s 120%,” Albertus admitted. “But Amir and I are academics with heavy teaching and leadership loads. I’m running HPALS, convening courses, leading research projects, and leading international and national societies in biomechanics – serving as the president of 3D Analysis of Human Movement (3DAHM) and chair of SA Society of Biomechanics. Balancing all of that with building a company is incredibly tough.”

Despite the strain, she remains committed. “I’ll only really be happy when we make our first sale,” she said. “Because that’s when you know the product is trusted and making an impact. For movement analysis, accuracy and reliability are everything.”

Lessons in leadership and resilience

Albertus’s leadership philosophy is rooted in the lessons of sport: teamwork, resilience, and trust. “You can bring the best person into your team, but if you don’t gel with them, it won’t work,” she noted. “It’s about respect, trust, and a shared vision. When you have that, any challenge can be overcome.”

She is candid about the toll of her workload, but also reflective about the progress. “Sometimes I’m hard on myself, thinking about everything I should be doing. But when I reflect on where we were two years ago and where we are now, it’s insane. We’ve built something real. Every small win keeps us going.”

“Never say no. Say yes, and make it work.”

For Albertus, saying “yes” has been key. “Never say no. Say yes, and make it work. Because when you say no, you close off possibilities. Surround yourself with good people, and you’ll find a way.”

Even as she juggles roles as scientist, mentor, entrepreneur, and mother, Albertus knows where her heart lies. “My happy place is the lab, being with students, experimenting, creating. That’s where I feel alive. I just need more time to be in that creative space.”

And yet, her impact radiates well beyond the lab. Whether mentoring young researchers, designing inclusive technologies, or challenging the boundaries of biomechanics, Albertus is shaping a future where science is not just knowledge, but a tool for empowerment. “I want science to mean something. To move from the lab into people’s lives. That’s what drives me.”