Biography

I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to an Italian mother and Portuguese father but have spent most of my life in South Africa.  Having been schooled in Johannesburg, I went to Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape up until a Master’s degree. I ended up being fortunate enough to receive a Fulbright Scholarship to go to the USA for a PhD.  I spent 5 years at Purdue University in Indiana, which I consider one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life, both personally and professionally.  After finishing my PhD, I returned to South Africa and the University of Pretoria, where I am now.  I am a fan of all sports but am particularly fond of soccer (read Manchester United).  My other interests include music and literature.  I consider myself as a passionate person and dedicate myself to what interests and excites me.   

Discipline/s

Virology

Molecular Biology

Genomics

Epidemiology

Research description

Throughout my career, I have been dedicated to virology.  I have worked on insects, animal, and human viruses and covered many experimental disciplines.  In the past, the projects I was involved in were of a more fundamental nature.  For my PhD, I worked on an arbovirus called Sindbis virus. Still, I focused on the basic question of trying to understand how it specifically packaged its genome into the virus particle.  We found that RNA signaling elements conserved across the family acted as regulators of this and the process of RNA replication.  Since coming to Pretoria, my focus has shifted to human diseases with a broader One Health emphasis.  I am involved in several projects where we screen clinical specimens from febrile and neurologically diseased patients for various pathogens.  We utilize a Multiplex PCR tool that covers both common humans and zoonotic/arboviral pathogens and seeks to understand the epidemiology of these diseases.  The other half of my research focuses on technology development, where we are in the process of creating a new Taqman array card tool for screening.  We are also developing Next-generation sequencing tools to try and characterize the pathogens that we find.     

Research gate