Dr NE Collins

Extraordinary Lecturer: Molecular Biology

BSc (Wits) BSc (Hons)(Wits) PhD (Wits)

Dr Nicola Collins

Office
Room 2-41
Paraclinical Building

Postal address
Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases
Faculty of Veterinary Science
P/Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa

Telephone
+27 12 529 8022

Email
[email protected]

Biography

Nicola Collins was educated at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. In 1992 she joined the Agricultural Research Council – Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute where she completed her Ph.D. Following a post doctoral fellowship in 1999 at the Center for Biomedical Inventions, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, USA, she returned to the ARC-OVI where she was appointed leader of research projects in the Heartwater Programme. She joined the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria in 2003 where she currently holds a part-time appointment.

Subjects taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels

Recombinant vaccine development for heartwater
Development of molecular diagnostic tests for piroplasm parasites
Molecular characterization of piroplasm parasites

Research interests

Dr Collins’ research career has mainly focused on molecular studies of haemoparasites of veterinary importance. She was one of the principal researchers involved in the sequencing of the 1.5 Mb Ehrlichia ruminantium genome, which was published in January 2005 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; in 2005 this journal had an impact factor of 10.231. The E. ruminantium genome sequence was the first bacterial genome to be completed in Africa, and was a major achievement for all the researchers involved. It will be an invaluable resource in future heartwater research.

She has also been involved in the development of molecular diagnostic tests for Theileria parva, Theileria equi and Babesia caballi and in the molecular characterization of these parasites. Her research revealed the existence of genetic and serological heterogeneity in T. equi and B. caballi parasites in South Africa, which explains the failure of many molecular and serological tests to detect these parasites in field samples in this country. Other projects include the identification T. parva carrier cattle in the Mnisi Community Area and the characterization of T. parva parasites identified, as well as studying the time-course of tick-borne haemoparasite infection in calves at the wildlife-livestock interface in the Mnisi Community.

Her current research includes the molecular characterization of vaccine candidates from Anaplasma marginale strains in South Africa in collaboration with Dr Kelly Brayton (Washington State University, USA) and Dr Sibusiso Mtshali (NRF-National Zoological Gardens, Pretoria). Recently, in vitro cultures of South African A. marginale strainshave been established in embryonic tick cell lines in collaboration with researchers at the ARC-OVI. Dr Collins is also working in collaboration with Dr Marinda Oosthuizen on the characterization of A. marginale and A. centrale in cattle and buffalo, and the identification of zoonotic tick-borne pathogens.

Postgraduate Students (2013-2019)

Students Supervised

Name of student	Degree	Title of thesis	Supervisor	Co-supervisor(s)	First year of registration	Graduation
Alri Pretorius	Ph.D.	Aspects of the immune response in ruminants to four protective Ehrlichia ruminantium gene products	Self	Prof B.A. Allsopp (University of Pretoria)	2003	November 2007
Kgomotso P Sibeko	Ph.D.	Validation of tests for mixed Theileria species infections in African buffaloes and cattle	Self	Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria) Prof D. Geysen (Institute for Tropical Medicine, Antwerp) Prof A. Latif (Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute)	2004	April 2010
Raksha Bhoora	Ph.D.	Molecular characterization of Theileria equi and Babesia caballi, the causative agents of equine piroplsmosis	Self	Prof B. Penzhorn (University of Pretoria) Prof A.J. Guthrie (University of Pretoria)	2005	April 2010
Jeanine Uys	B.Sc. (Hons)	Identification and characterization of a Babesia species found in hyaena	Self	Prof B. Penzhorn (University of Pretoria) Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria)	2006	April 2007
Evalyne N Njiiri	Web-based M.Sc.	The occurrence of Ehrlichia ruminantium and other haemoparasites in calves in western Kenya as determined by the reverse line blot hybridization assay, real-time PCR and nested PCR	Self	Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria) Dr K.P. Sibeko (University of Pretoria) Dr P. Toye (ILRI, Kenya)	2010	April 2013
W Heinrich Stoltsz	M.Sc.	Aspects of the epidemiology of Theileria parva infections in cattle and African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) in South Africa revealed by tick transmission and sub-inoculation of blood	Self	Prof B. Penzhorn (University of Pretoria)	2011	April 2012
Chimvwele N Choopa	M.Sc.	A retrospective study to identify target areas to sample for Theileria parva carrier cattle and molecular characterisation of T. parva positive samples identified	Self	Dr D. Knobel (University of Pretoria) Dr D. Geysen (Institute for Tropical Medicine, Antwerp)	2012	April 2016
Paidashe Hove	Ph.D.	Molecular characterisation of potential vaccine candidates from Anaplasma marginale strains in South Africa	Self	Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria) Dr K.A. Brayton (Washington State University) Dr S.M. Mtshali (National Zoological Gardens)	2013	September 2018
Janine Baxter	B.Sc. (Hons)	Genetic diversity of Anaplasma marginale and Anaplasma marginale subspecies centrale in South Africa	Self	Dr M.E. Chaisi (University of Pretoria)	2014	April 2015
Sizanobuhle Phili	Web-based M.Sc.	Occurrence and genetic diversity of Anaplasma marginale in cattle from two diptanks in Zambezia Province, Mozambique	Self	Dr M.E. Chaisi (University of Pretoria)	2015	September 2017
Marcus Makgabo	M.Sc.	Tick-borne disease dynamics in calves at the wildlife-livestock interface in the Mnisi Community Programme (MCP) area, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.	Self	Dr K.A. Brayton (Washington State University) Dr L. Biggs (University of Pretoria)	2016	April 2019
Marcus Makgabo	Ph.D.		Self	Dr K. Brayton (Washington State University) Dr J Fehrsen (ARC-OVI)	2019
Bianca Bezuidenhout	M.Sc.		Self	Dr Luis Neves	2019

Students Co-supervised

Name of student	Degree	Title of thesis	Supervisor	Co-supervisor(s)	First year of registration	Graduation
Junita Liebenberg	Ph.D.	Identification of vaccine candidate genes from the genomic analysis of Ehrlichia ruminantium	Prof B.A. Allsopp (University of Pretoria)	Self	2006	November 2010
Cassandra Olds	M.Sc.	The isolation and characterization of a pathogenic Babesia bovis stock from outbreaks for use in immunization	Prof A. Latif (Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute)	Self	2006	November 2008
Saira Yusufmia	Web-based M.Sc.	The prevalance of theileriosis at the edge of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi park, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa	Prof B. Penzhorn (University of Pretoria)	Self	2006	November 2009
Peter S Brothers	Web-based M.Sc.	Occurrence of blood-borne tick-transmitted parasites in tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus lunatus) antelope, in Vaalbos National Park, South Africa	Prof B. Penzhorn (University of Pretoria)	Self	2006	April 2009
Mamohale E Chaisi	Ph.D.	Diversity of Theileria parva parasites in African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and the challenge of differential diagnosis	Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria)	Self	2007	April 2012
Elizabeth M Debeila	M. Sc.	Occurence of Anaplasma and Ehrlichia species in African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) inKruger National Park and Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in South Africa	Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria)	Self Dr T.P. Matjila (University of Pretoria)	2009	April 2013
Stephen Tembo	Web-based M.Sc.	Occurrence of tick-borne haemoparasites in cattle in the Mungwi District, Northern Province, Zambia	Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria)	Self Dr K.P. Sibeko (University of Pretoria)	2010	April 2013
Dewald Eygelaar	M.Sc.	The characterization of Theileria parva in buffalo (Syncerus caffer) from Botswana using the p67, p104 and polymorphic immunodominant molecule (PIM) genes and polymorphic microsatellites	Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria)	Self Dr F. Jori (University of Pretoria)	2012	April 2016
Zamantungwa Khumalo	Ph.D.	Anaplasma centrale in South Africa: occurrence, phylogeny and genetic diversity	Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria)	Self Dr K.A. Brayton (Washington State University)	2013	April 2018
Charles Byaruhanga	Ph.D.	Epidemiology and tick-borne haemoparasite diversity amongst transhumant zebu cattle in Karamoja Region, Uganda	Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria)	Self Dr D. Knobel (University of Pretoria)	2013	April 2017
Teboho Tsotetsi	M.Sc.	Validation of expression profiles of differentially expressed transcripts identified in cattle-derived and buffalo-derived Theileria parva isolates by RNA sequencing	Dr K.P. Sibeko (University of Pretoria)	Self Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria)	2013	September 2017
Trevor Molemane	M.Sc.		Dr K.P. Sibeko (University of Pretoria)	Self	2013
Nicole Liesching	Web-based M.Sc.	Molecular detection of tick-borne haemoparasites in selected wild ruminant species in South Africa	Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria)	Self	2013	April 2015
Gloria Patsanza	Ph.D.		Dr K.P. Sibeko (University of Pretoria)	Self	2014
Itumeleng Setshedi	Ph.D.		Dr K.P. Sibeko (University of Pretoria)	Self	2014	De-registered
Agatha Kolo	Ph.D.	Detection of zoonotic bacterial pathogens in multiple hosts using a microbiome approach and molecular characterization of Anaplasma phagocytophilum	Dr M.C. Oosthuizen (University of Pretoria)	Self Dr K.A. Brayton (Washington State University)	2015	September 2019

Research output/publications

Click here to view a list of publications.

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