Community of Practice in Evaluating Malaria Control Interventions at UP goes beyond expectations with renewal for second round of funding

Posted on September 23, 2020

The University of Pretoria's (UP) first Community of Practice (CoP) focusing on eliminating malaria, hosted in the UP Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP ISMC), has been renewed for a second round of funding. Through the CoP initiative, the National Research Foundation (NRF) provides...

‘We are unearthing the microverse, starting in city parks,’ says UP scientist Prof Makhalanyane

Posted on September 20, 2020

UP’s Professor Thulani Makhalanyane is part of an international team of scientists that has mapped the microbiomes of public parks worldwide for the first time, and he hopes park managers will take note of the results.

Fighting coronavirus: UP grad co-develops ground-breaking COVID-19 test kit

Posted on July 15, 2020

University of Pretoria (UP) alumnus Daniel Ndima and business partner Dineo Lioma have developed a ground-breaking COVID-19 test kit that will provide results in just over an hour. The CapeBio-SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Kit boasts improved efficiency, sensitivity and specificity.

Dr Osmond Mlonyeni made history as first-ever Mandela Rhodes alumnus appointed to Board of Trustees

Posted on July 15, 2020

Dr Osmond Mlonyeni, Project Manager at Future Africa, an institute based at the University of Pretoria (UP), has made history by becoming the first-ever alumnus of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation (MRF) to be appointed as a Trustee of the Foundation.

New study clarifies nature of genetic admixture in South Africa’s Afrikaner population

Posted on July 09, 2020

A collaboration between researchers from the University of Pretoria (UP) and Uppsala University in Sweden has found some unexpected patterns of genetic admixture in South Africa’s Afrikaner (white and Afrikaans-speaking) population.

ANALYSIS: Lockdowns and research – what we lost and what we stand to gain

Posted on May 13, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic – and the resulting lockdowns – have had a major impact on research at institutions across the world, and universities in particular.

Prof Paulette Bloomer appointed as new Deputy Dean for Teaching and Learning in NAS

Posted on April 20, 2020

Prof Paulette Bloomer is the new Deputy Dean for Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS) effective from 1 April 2020 until 31 March 2024. She succeeds Prof Marietjie Potgieter who finished her seven-year tenure at the end of February this year.

ANALYSIS: Investing in research is South Africa’s best insurance policy against crises

Posted on April 14, 2020

As the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads around the world, causing the disease COVID-19, it is becoming ever clearer that the solutions to this pandemic will all be based on research.