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UCT RESEARCH REPORT 2012
Dr Kerry Gordon
Postdoctoral fellow; HIV-1 envelope structure and function;
understanding the glycosylation requirements of HIV-1
envelope during transmission
Dr Inga Hitzeroth
Senior Research Officer; plant-derived vaccines; Human
Papillomaviruses (HPV), Beak and Feather disease virus
(BFDV), Rotavirus and Influenza virus
Dr Suzanne Huddy
Postdoctoral fellow; plant and algal biotechnology; plant-
produced enzymes and pharmaceuticals; plant and algal
tissue culture and transformation studies; Influenza
Dr Kershini Iyer
Postdoctoral fellow; plant biotechnology; promoter studies
of stress-associated genes from Zea mays and Xerophyta
viscosa
Dr Revel Iyer
Chief Research Administrator; agricultural biotechnology;
plant molecular biology; plant transgenics
Dr Brian Kullin
Postdoctoral fellow; Clostridium difficile (epidemiology,
factors involved in host colonisation and mechanisms of
antibiotic resistance); oxalate utilisation by probiotic gut
bacteria (possible role in kidney stone prevention)
Dr Ann Meyers
Research Officer; plant-produced proteins, monoclonal
antibodies and vaccines; bluetongue virus; Rift Valley fever
virus; Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever virus
Dr Shane Murray
Lecturer; crop genomics and transcriptomics; resistance
in maize and grapevine to pathogens (fungi, viruses and
phytoplasma)
Dr Christiane M. Nday
Postdoctoral fellow; identification of blood biomarkers
for drug abusers with a history of psychosis using RNA
sequencing technology
Dr Lynthia Paul
Research assistant; Bacteroides fragilis metronidazole
resistance; mutational analysis; metronidazole uptake;
flotillin; DNA recombination and repair genes
Dr Maya Pfaff
Postdoctoral fellow; marine virology; plankton ecology;
metagenomics; microbial oceanography (understanding
the role of viruses in the Southern Ocean carbon cycle and
the formation, maintenance and termination of harmful
algal blooms)
Dr Dionne Shepherd
Research Officer; virology and plant biotechnology;
development of maize streak virusresistant maize; maize
streak virus diversity; plant-virus interactions
Dr Michele Tomasicchio
Postdoctoral fellow; glucocorticoid receptor (GR)
transcriptional signalling; cross talk between HIV-1 Vpr and
the GR in transcriptional regulation of host genes
Research Highlights
Awards
Professor Janet Hapgood was awarded a Grand Challenges
Explorations grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
(www.uct.ac.za/mondaypaper/?id=9404).
Significant Publications
Emeritus Professor Horst Klump was a co-author on a
paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society
(2011 impact factor: 9.907) that investigated the role of
“bulge loops” in the generation of mutations that result
in expanded stretches of repetitive DNA sequences
(expansion mutations). Since expansion mutations are
associated with a variety of human genetic disorders,
such as Huntington’s disease, knowing more about bulge-
loop behaviour may help researchers to understand
expansion mutations (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pubmed/22397401).
Contact Details
Postal address: Department of Molecular and Cell
Biology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3,
Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
Telephone: SA (21) 650-3269
Fax: SA (21) 689-7573
e-mail: ethne.liebenberg@uct.ac.za
Web: http://www.mcb.uct.ac.za
Research output
Chapters in books
Farrant, J.M. and Moore, J.P. 2012. A systems-based
molecular biology analysis of resurrection plants for crop
and forage improvements in arid environments. In N.
Tuteja, S. Gill, A.F. Tubercio and R. Tutefa (eds), Improving
Crop Resistance to Abiotic Stress, pp. 399-418. Germany:
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc. ISBN 9783527328406.
Farrant, J.M., Cooper, K.L. and Nell, J. 2012. Desiccation
tolerance. In S. Shabala (ed.), Plant Stress Physiology,
pp. 238-265. Wallingford, UK: CAB International. ISBN
9781845939953.