DOCTORAL RESEARCH AND POST-DOCTORAL CAREER

I completed my studies at the University of Cape Town where I obtained undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and Microbiology and a doctorate in Molecular and Cell Biology. My PhD thesis entitled The role of polyphenols and the cell wall in relation to the desiccation tolerance of the resurrection plant Myrothamnus flabellifolia (Welw.) was performed under the principal supervision of Associate Professor Wolf Brandt. Through this research work, while under the co-supervision of Professors George Lindsey and Jill Farrant, I developed a keen interest in the desiccation and drought tolerance mechanisms of plants. In addition, I became very interested in the chemistry of plant polyphenols and the biochemistry of plant cell walls. During my PhD I spent research periods at the University of Rouen in France where I developed expertise in the biochemistry and microscopy of plant cell walls under the supervision of Professor Azeddine Driouich. After obtaining my doctorate I worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. My research focused on the mechanisms of phenolic coupling, using isotope-based metabolic methods, within the walls of suspension cultured maize (Zea mays) cells in the laboratory of Professor Stephen Fry. Towards the end of 2007 I joined the academic staff of the Institute for Wine Biotechnology (IWBT) (now the South African Grape and Wine Research Institute, SAGWRI) at Stellenbosch University where I was appointed as an academic researcher and subsequently promoted to senior researcher.