Dr Matome Eugene Makgopa Senior Lecturer Section: Plant Biotechnology   Office: Plant Sciences Complex 3-15 Tel:  +27 (0)12 420 4676 Email: eugene.makgopa[AT]up.ac.za   BSc (Hons) MSc (Newcastle University, UK) PhD (UP/Leeds University, UK)

Sadly, Dr Makgopa recently passed away. Queries related to his research and teaching should please be directed to the departmental administrator, Ms Rene Fryer.

Dr Makgopa completed his PhD in 2014 on plant stress in soybean and Arabidopsis plants and has published on his research findings. He undertook a post-doctoral research for 10 months working on viral vaccine development at the agricultural research council.

His research focus is on understanding plant stress at a molecular level with a particular focus on understanding the role of the protease/ protease inhibitor system. Interest in this system was sparked by his PhD research which studied the role of cysteine protease inhibitors during plant growth and development under normal and stress conditions. He is now greatly expanding on his previous research by particularly investigating the role of the protease-protease inhibitor system in soybean nodules which has so far only attracted little attention. His vision for the future is to conduct a systems biology approach to address the question of how to increase crop yield and plant biomass under abiotic stress for a sustained agriculture.

He has supervised 2 honours students and supervises 2 MSc students, supervises 1 PhD student and co-supervises two PhD students. He has received funding from the National Research Foundation and the research development program (RDP).

Recent publications

PILLAY, P., KUNERT, K. J., VAN WYK, S., MAKGOPA, M. E., CULLIS, C. A. & VORSTER, B. J. 2016. Agroinfiltration contributes to VP1 recombinant protein degradation. Bioengineered, 7 (6) 459–477.

VAN WYK S.G., KUNERT K.J., CULLIS C.A., PILLLAY P., MAKGOPA M.E., SCHLUTER U. & VORSTER B.J. 2016 The future of cystatin engineering. Plant Science, 246, 119–127.

MARQUEZ-GARCIA, B., SHAW, D., COOPER, J. W., KARPINSKA, B., QUAIN, M. D., MAKGOPA, E. M., KUNERT, K. & FOYER, C. H. 2015. Redox markers for drought-induced nodule senescence, a process occurring after drought-induced senescence of the lowest leaves in soybean (Glycine max). Annals of Botany, 116, 497–510.

QUAIN, M., MAKGOPA, M., COOPER, J., KUNERT, K., & FOYER, C. 2015. Ectopic phytocystatin expression increases nodule numbers and influences the responses of soybean (Glycine max) to nitrogen deficiency. Phytochemistry, 112, 179–187.