Prof Thulani Makhalanyane has become the first African academic to be appointed Editor-in-Chief of Reviews and Perspectives for the prestigious ISME Journal.

The University of Pretoria (UP) is proud to announce that Professor Thulani Makhalanyane of the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of Reviews and Perspectives for the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) Journal, as of 1 May 2023. Prof Thulani – who holds the Department of Science and Innovation/National Research Foundation SARChI Chair in Marine Microbiomics – is the first African to assume this position.

The ISME Journal is a multidisciplinary journal that covers a broad range of topics, including environmental microbiology, microbial physiology and microbial genomics. Over the past 15 years, the journal has published ground-breaking research in microbial ecology, and its impact on the field has been immense. In 2022, the impact factor for the journal was 11.217.

Prof Makhalanyane holds a P-rating from the National Research Foundation and is a leading researcher in the field of microbial ecology, with a particular interest in microbial communities in extreme environments such as Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. His research focuses on understanding the processes that drive microbial diversity and how they influence ecosystem functioning.

In his new position, Prof Makhalanyane will play a crucial role in shaping the direction of the ISME Journal.