profile
of personnel
Medical Research Council
Prof
Del Kahn
Citizenship: South African
Qualification: MD, FRCS
 Experience
Currently Professor and Head: Division of General Surgery, Head:
Organ Transplantation and Head: Surgical Research Laboratory,
University of Cape Town. Prof Kahn is also serving as President
of the following bodies: Surgical Research Society of South
Africa, South African Transplantation Society and African Association
for the study of liver disease. His main research interests
are in transplantation and liver regeneration.
Contribution
to project
Direction of the UCT immunomodulation studies component of the
work.
Prof Peter Smith
Citizenship: SA
Qualification: PhD
 Experience
Professor Peter Smith has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University
of Cape Town. He is currently a Principal Specialist Scientist
in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Cape Town in
charge of the analytical laboratory. He has extensive experience
in drug assay development and in the pharmacokinetics of anti-TB
drugs. The UCT Pharmacology laboratory is one of only three
laboratories worldwide recognized by the WHO as reference centres
for TB drug monitoring. With Prof Peter Folb he has supervised
the laboratory-based research of the South African Traditional
Medicines Research Group since its inception. His particular
interest is the isolation from plants of novel antimalarial
and anti-TB drugs and lead compounds.
Contribution
to project
Scientific director of UCT Pharmacology component of the programme.
Ms
Denise Saravanakumar
Citizenship: SA
Qualification: MSc
 Experience
Ms. Denise Saravanakumar is a Ph.D student in the Department
of Pharmacology, UCT. She obtained a MSc degree from the University
of the Western Cape in 2001.Her interest in is in drug development,
particularly from marine plants.
Contribution
to project
Scientist
Prof
Lafras Steyn
Citizenship: SA
Qualification: MB ChB, PhD, FC(Path)SA
 Experience
Professor Lafras Steyn is the Head of the Department of Clinical
Laboratory Sciences, UCT and Groote Schuur Hospital. He has
an MBChB degree from the University of Stellenbosch and a PhD
in Chemical Pathology (1984) from UCT. He joined the Department
of Medical Microbiology in 1984 and is responsible for the establishment
of a Molecular Biology Laboratory in the Department. Professor
Steyn became the Head of the Division of Pathology in 1999 and
was appointed as the first Head of the consolidated Department
of Clinical Laboratory Sciences in 2001. He was awarded the
FC (Path) by peer review in 2000. Professor Steyn’s main
research interests centre on the molecular biology of Mycobacterium
tuberculosis. He and his colleagues have developed a highly
specific PCR assay for M. tuberculosis and have identified a
novel lipoprotein in this organism. He is currently involved
in studies on the regulation of gene expression in Mycobacterial
organisms. In particular, he and his group are studying the
cold shock response in members of the Genus Mycobacterium. Indications
are that fundamental differences exist between the environmental
organisms and M. tuberculosis. Another aspect of his work covers
the development of alternative methods to gene knockout for
identifying essential genes. This approach involves modifications
of the standard anti-sense RNA approach and uses RNA secondary
structure to create substrates for endogenous RNases. Professor
Steyn is a major recipient of funding in DACST/MRC Institutional
programme and is involved in several international collaborative
projects.
Contribution
to project
Leader of the UCT microbiology component of the programme.
Dr
Muazzam Jacobs
Citizenship: SA
Qualification: PhD
 Experience
Muazzam Jacobs obtained his PhD in Immunology from the University
of Cape Town. He is currently employed as a Specialist Scientist
in the Department of Immunology and has been instrumental in
the establishment of the Biohazard Level – 3 facilities
in the Department of Immunology and at the UCT Animal Unit.
His current research focus is to investigate the relationship
between Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and the host immune
response with emphasis on Tumour Necrosis Factors and Pathogen
Recognition Receptors. Together with Dr Valerie Quesniaux (Transgenose
Institute, CNRS, France), he was awarded a joint France/South
Africa Science and Technology Agreement Research Grant to investigate
the role of pattern recognition receptors during M. tuberculosis
infection. He is actively involved in the supervision of postgraduate
students.
Contribution
to project
Scientist; leader of the TB animal studies component of the
programme.
Prof
Kelly Chibale
Citizenship: Zambian
Qualification: PhD
 Experience
Kelly Chibale has a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University
of Cambridge in the UK. He is currently a senior lecturer in
the Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town. He was
a British Ramsay Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University
of Liverpool, UK and a Wellcome Trust International Prize Fellow,
Department of Chemistry and the Skaggs Institute of Chemical
Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California,
USA. He has since held a Wellcome Trust International Research
Development Fellowship (1997-2001) while at UCT. In 2002 he
received the first Sandler Sabbatical Fellowship for Basic Research
in Parasitic Diseases tenable at the University of California
San Francisco (USA) and an Invited Professorship at Universite
des Sciences et Technologies de Lille (France). He has served
as a temporary Advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO)
on drug discovery and development for the kinetoplastids (1999).
In addition he has supervised more than 20 postgraduate (MSc
and PhD) as well as postdoctoral research assistants working
on various drug discovery projects in the last 5-6 years. His
current research interests are in rational medicinal chemistry
and include the utilization of plant-derived natural products
as scaffolds for the design, discovery and development of anti-malarial
and anti-TB agents. He is a recipient of international grants
for drug discovery research from, amongst others, GlaxoSmithKline
(UK), National Institutes of Health (USA) and the Wellcome Trust
(UK). Locally he has continued to receive research support from
the NRF, THRIP and Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA)
for drug discovery research.
Contribution
to project
Leader of programme aspect dealing with the design and synthesis
of chemical libraries of natural product-derivatives. |
