A hearty congratulations to Lazarus Takawira on completing his PhD and presenting his Prestige seminar “Inferring secondary cell wall-related R2R3-MYB transcription factor gene target in Eucalyptus grandis using DNA affinity purification sequencing” on 29 November. Lazarus’ PhD was completed under the supervision of Prof. Steven Hussey , Prof. Zander Myburg and Prof. Eschar Mizrachi . The examiners for his thesis were Prof. Gerard Theron from Stellenbosch University , Prof. Christian Dubos of the Institute for Plant Science of Montpellier and Prof. Amy Brunner of Virginia Technology Institute , USA. Prof. Steven Hussey, who is now resident in Melbourne, Australia, joined via Zoom to introduce Lazarus whom he described as a person with a very clear life plan and who has an infectious, big smile. “He has come a long way and I am exceptionally proud of him that he has finished his journey despite technical and personal challenges and a pandemic!” He also pointed out that Lazarus authored a book titled “Imagine Africa” prior to starting his PhD at FABI . Lazarus’ PhD explored the use of DNA Affinity Purification Sequencing (DAP-seq) in fast-tracking our understanding of the transcriptional regulation of secondary cell wall (SCW) biosynthesis in the economically important hardwood, Eucalyptus grandis . By optimising the assay, collaborating with Dr Mounet’s group at the University of Toulouse and incorporating machine learning, his research demonstrated that that biological functions of R2R3-MYB transcription factors linked to SCW biosynthesis could be inferred from their genome-wide binding sites using DAP-seq. He was able to reconstruct a transcriptional regulatory network involving hundreds of previously unknown transcription factor-gene interactions, significantly advancing our understanding of the mechanisms by which hardwood trees regulate genes involved in wood development.