After obtaining my BSc (Microbiology and Chemistry), HonsBSc (Microbiology) and MSc (Microbiology) degrees at Stellenbosch University, I registered for a PhD in Microbiology in 1993. As part of my doctoral studies, I spent 18 months as a Visiting Graduate Student in the laboratory of my co-supervisor, Prof. RA Young, at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research & Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, USA. In 1997, I was appointed a lecturer in the Department of Microbiology and rose through the ranks to Associate Professor. Currently, my research in yeast biotechnology includes three postdoctoral fellows, two Doctoral and three Master's students.