Laboratory leader

Pierre M. Durand

pidurand AT gmail DOT com

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Current lab members

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Andrew Ndhlovu (graduating November 2020)

Ph.D. project: The metagenomics of an algal bloom

 

Karen van Niekerk

PhD project: The evolution of programmed cell death in dinoflagellates

 

Jaganmoy Jodder

Postdoctoral fellow: Palaeontological evidence for cooperation and group-level behavior in Precambrian microfossils

 

SoRi La

MSc. Project: Evolutionary history of Caspase–Hemoglobinase fold proteases en route to eukaryogenesis

 

Tutuzwa Xuma (secondary supervisor, primary supervisor is Prof Stuart Sym)

PhD project: The ultrastructure of programmed cell death in Prorocentrum triestinum

 

External PhD advisory committee member for

Nathalie Zeballos

Supervised by Luis Chevin, University of Montpellier

 

Past lab members

 

Postdoctoral Fellows

Santosh Sathe (2014 - 2016)

Rajdeep Choudhury (2012 - 2013)

 

PhD Graduates

Nisha Dhar 2016, Thesis - The molecular evolution of complexity at the origin of life

Dewaldt  Engelbrecht 2015, Thesis- Plasmodium falciparum: programmed cell death in the erythrocytic stages

Jonathan Featherston 2019, Thesis - Genomic and genetic changes during the transition to multicellularity in the Volvocine algae.

 

 MSc Graduates

Andrew Ndhlovu 2015, Thesis - An evolutionary rates database EvoDB and alignment algorithm to infer protein domain function

 

Jasper Grobler

MSc. Project: Biochemical characterisation of South African indigenous microalgae for biofuel production potential.

 

Laboratory visitors

 

Marcelo Barreto Filho (2019), University of Sao Paolo

Professor Alexey Grigoryevich Desnitskiy (2017), St. Petersburg State University

Mr. Abhishek Upadhyay (2015), University of Hong Kong

Mr. Nishant Garg (2015), Boston University Medical School

Professor Cristian Solari (2015), University of Buenos Aires

Professor Rick Michod (2014), University of Arizona

Mrs. Yogita Dolas (2014)

 

SANPCC curator: Viktor Radermacher from the laboratory of Prof Jonah Choiniere

MSc. Project: Synchrotron uCT scanning reveals novel cranial anatomy of the enigmatic Early Cretaceous South African Coelurosaur Nqwebasaurus thwazi: a reconstruction, reappraisal, and phylogenetic reassessment