SASBi Council Members 2018-2020
Prof. Gerard Tromp, President
email: [email protected]
Gerard Tromp is a Professor in the Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science of Stellenbosch University. He holds the Research Chair in Bioinformatics at the Faculty. Prof. Tromp received his PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in1989 at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. He returned to South Africa in 2015 after 33 years in the United States and has been involved in SASBi since then and was a member of the SASBi Council since 2016. He has over 200 publications, an h-index of 64 (GoogleScholar) and his work has been cited >12,400 times.
email: [email protected]
Gerard Tromp is a Professor in the Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science of Stellenbosch University. He holds the Research Chair in Bioinformatics at the Faculty. Prof. Tromp received his PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in1989 at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. He returned to South Africa in 2015 after 33 years in the United States and has been involved in SASBi since then and was a member of the SASBi Council since 2016. He has over 200 publications, an h-index of 64 (GoogleScholar) and his work has been cited >12,400 times.
Prof. Tulio de Olivera, Past President
e-mail:[email protected]; [email protected]
Tulio de Olivera is a Professor at the College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), and Director of KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform (KRISP), Durban. He received his PhD at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN, South Africa, and was a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK from 2004 to 2006, where he received in-depth training on virus genetic analysis and molecular evolution. He is recognized as an expert on HIV genetic data and bioinformatics. He has over 200 publications, an h-index of 36 (GoogleScholar) and his work has been cited >4,200 times.
e-mail:[email protected]; [email protected]
Tulio de Olivera is a Professor at the College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), and Director of KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform (KRISP), Durban. He received his PhD at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN, South Africa, and was a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK from 2004 to 2006, where he received in-depth training on virus genetic analysis and molecular evolution. He is recognized as an expert on HIV genetic data and bioinformatics. He has over 200 publications, an h-index of 36 (GoogleScholar) and his work has been cited >4,200 times.
Dr Ruben Cloete, Secretary
e-mail: [email protected]
Ruben Cloete is a Lecturer at the South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI) at the University of the Western Cape. He completed a PhD in SANBI in 2013. His PhD focused on the identification of novel drug targets in the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the predicting their 3-dimensional structures. During his post-doctoral fellowship at SANBI he started implementing methods of molecular dynamic simulation. He spent 2 months in the laboratory of Professor Verma at the A-star Bioinformatics Institute, Biopolis, Singapore to learn molecular modelling, simulation studies of protein-ligand and protein-protein complexes, as well as methods in drug discovery and design. He now has his own laboratory group at SANBI and lectures in structural bioinformatics and comparative genomics. His current research uses structural methods for the discovery and development of novel drugs for HIV and tuberculosis. He has 8 publications, and an h-index of 4 (Google Scholar).
e-mail: [email protected]
Ruben Cloete is a Lecturer at the South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI) at the University of the Western Cape. He completed a PhD in SANBI in 2013. His PhD focused on the identification of novel drug targets in the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the predicting their 3-dimensional structures. During his post-doctoral fellowship at SANBI he started implementing methods of molecular dynamic simulation. He spent 2 months in the laboratory of Professor Verma at the A-star Bioinformatics Institute, Biopolis, Singapore to learn molecular modelling, simulation studies of protein-ligand and protein-protein complexes, as well as methods in drug discovery and design. He now has his own laboratory group at SANBI and lectures in structural bioinformatics and comparative genomics. His current research uses structural methods for the discovery and development of novel drugs for HIV and tuberculosis. He has 8 publications, and an h-index of 4 (Google Scholar).
Prof. Oleg Reva; Treasurer
e-mail: [email protected]
Oleg Reva, one of the founders of SASBi, is an Associated Professor in the Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Pretoria. Prof. Reva obtained his PhD in Microbiology in 1995 in the Institute of Microbiology and Virology, Kiev, Ukraine. In 2002-2004 he did his postdoctoral fellowship in bioinformatics in the Medical High School in Hanover, Germany. His current research interests include the development of new biostatistical algorithms and computer programs for functional and comparative genomics, bacterial evolution, biotechnology and medicine. Prof. Reva lectures on bioinformatics and biochemistry and supervises post-graduate students. Numerous research projects were funded by NRF, SABINA and TIA. He is C2 NRF rated researcher. He has over 100 publications, an h-index of 24 (GoogleScholar), and his work has been cited >2,500 times.
e-mail: [email protected]
Oleg Reva, one of the founders of SASBi, is an Associated Professor in the Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Pretoria. Prof. Reva obtained his PhD in Microbiology in 1995 in the Institute of Microbiology and Virology, Kiev, Ukraine. In 2002-2004 he did his postdoctoral fellowship in bioinformatics in the Medical High School in Hanover, Germany. His current research interests include the development of new biostatistical algorithms and computer programs for functional and comparative genomics, bacterial evolution, biotechnology and medicine. Prof. Reva lectures on bioinformatics and biochemistry and supervises post-graduate students. Numerous research projects were funded by NRF, SABINA and TIA. He is C2 NRF rated researcher. He has over 100 publications, an h-index of 24 (GoogleScholar), and his work has been cited >2,500 times.
Mahtaab Hayat, Student Representative
e-mail: [email protected]
Mahtaab Hayat is currently a PhD student at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of the Witwatersrand. She obtained her undergraduate degree, Honours and Masters at Wits University. She is chairperson of the outreach programme at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, as well as the President of the South African Society for Bioinformatics Student Council (SASBi-SC). Her current research aims to explore the genetics contributing to breast cancer in South African Black populations.
e-mail: [email protected]
Mahtaab Hayat is currently a PhD student at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of the Witwatersrand. She obtained her undergraduate degree, Honours and Masters at Wits University. She is chairperson of the outreach programme at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, as well as the President of the South African Society for Bioinformatics Student Council (SASBi-SC). Her current research aims to explore the genetics contributing to breast cancer in South African Black populations.
Additional members:
Yumna Moosa, e-mail: [email protected]
Yumna Moosa is an amateur mathematician, qualified medical doctor and fledgling bioinformatician. She is currently a PhD candidate at the KZN Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform (KRISP), based at the University of KwaZulu Natal. She was awarded her MBChB from the University of Cape Town in 2012 and completed a Masters in Medical Science in Virology/Bioinformatics UKZN in 2018. Yumna’s research interests include the use of next generation sequencing and bioinformatics to survey the microbiome and virome present in a clinical sample. Her PhD project looks at the determinants of vaginal microbiome in the context of HIV acquisition risk.
Yumna Moosa is an amateur mathematician, qualified medical doctor and fledgling bioinformatician. She is currently a PhD candidate at the KZN Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform (KRISP), based at the University of KwaZulu Natal. She was awarded her MBChB from the University of Cape Town in 2012 and completed a Masters in Medical Science in Virology/Bioinformatics UKZN in 2018. Yumna’s research interests include the use of next generation sequencing and bioinformatics to survey the microbiome and virome present in a clinical sample. Her PhD project looks at the determinants of vaginal microbiome in the context of HIV acquisition risk.
Phelelani Mpangase, e-mail: [email protected]
Phelelani Mpangase is a Bioinformatician at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience at University of the Witwatersrand. He provides Bioinformatics support to students and researchers in the University. He has worked on projects involving protein structure and function, next generation sequencing data analysis, pipeline design, metagenomics and transcriptomics. Apart from being a Bioinformatician, he is also in the 3rd year of his PhD in Bioinformatics. His PhD project is focused at analysing transcriptomic data from black South African patients with systemic sclerosis and designing reproducible pipelines in Nextflow for analysing transcriptomic data and metagenomics.
Phelelani Mpangase is a Bioinformatician at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience at University of the Witwatersrand. He provides Bioinformatics support to students and researchers in the University. He has worked on projects involving protein structure and function, next generation sequencing data analysis, pipeline design, metagenomics and transcriptomics. Apart from being a Bioinformatician, he is also in the 3rd year of his PhD in Bioinformatics. His PhD project is focused at analysing transcriptomic data from black South African patients with systemic sclerosis and designing reproducible pipelines in Nextflow for analysing transcriptomic data and metagenomics.
Alisa Postma, e-mail: [email protected]
Alisa Postma is a Research Assistant and a PhD candidate at the Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute at the University of Pretoria. She obtained a BSc and BSc (Hons) in Genetics at the University of Pretoria and an MSc in Genetics at Stellenbosch University. Her current research interests include genomics and transcriptomics analyses of forestry pests and pathogens. She is actively involved in student training, having been a practical demonstrator and tutor for numerous subjects at University of Pretoria and Stellenbosch University as well as co-supervising several honours and masters students.
Alisa Postma is a Research Assistant and a PhD candidate at the Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute at the University of Pretoria. She obtained a BSc and BSc (Hons) in Genetics at the University of Pretoria and an MSc in Genetics at Stellenbosch University. Her current research interests include genomics and transcriptomics analyses of forestry pests and pathogens. She is actively involved in student training, having been a practical demonstrator and tutor for numerous subjects at University of Pretoria and Stellenbosch University as well as co-supervising several honours and masters students.
Werner Smidt, e-mail: [email protected]
Werner Smidt is a postdoctoral researcher at UZKN at KRISP and a visiting scholar at the University of Pretoria. He completed his PhD in 2014. His research interests include development and implementation of computational methods for epigenetic studies, phylogenetics and the use of modern methods to deal with uncertainty in data modeling. He is currently collaborating with various research groups, focusing mainly on HIV and immunology. He is proficient in various computer languages as well as advanced scripting.
Werner Smidt is a postdoctoral researcher at UZKN at KRISP and a visiting scholar at the University of Pretoria. He completed his PhD in 2014. His research interests include development and implementation of computational methods for epigenetic studies, phylogenetics and the use of modern methods to deal with uncertainty in data modeling. He is currently collaborating with various research groups, focusing mainly on HIV and immunology. He is proficient in various computer languages as well as advanced scripting.
Cedric J. Werely, e-mail: [email protected]
Cedric is a Principal Investigator in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Stellenbosch University. He joined the department in 1990, and obtained his PhD in 2012; his 19 publications have received more than 880 citations, and he has a h-index of 14 (Google Scholar). His research interests have included tumours of the prostate, mechanisms of the descent of the testes, DNA fingerprinting, and tuberculosis host genetics. He is currently investigating the impact of genetic variation in protein structure and function, specifically with the aim to understanding the pharmacogenetics.
Cedric is a Principal Investigator in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Stellenbosch University. He joined the department in 1990, and obtained his PhD in 2012; his 19 publications have received more than 880 citations, and he has a h-index of 14 (Google Scholar). His research interests have included tumours of the prostate, mechanisms of the descent of the testes, DNA fingerprinting, and tuberculosis host genetics. He is currently investigating the impact of genetic variation in protein structure and function, specifically with the aim to understanding the pharmacogenetics.