My research aims to gain a better understanding of the molecular dialogue between plants and pathogens with the long term goal of developing sustainable strategies to control crop diseases of relevance in Africa. The MPPI research group is currently focused on understanding the host-pathogen interaction in grey leaf spot disease of maize. We implement a range of approaches from whole plant phenotyping to genomics to investigate this pathosystem.

In addition, I have often been involved in projects that apply genomics to better understand plant biology and diversity. The current project in this theme is focused on the medicinally important tree genus Greyia that is endemic in South Africa.

Prior to joining the University of Pretoria, I completed a PhD in Microbiology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa (1990), where I cloned, sequenced and characterized a key transcriptional regulator involved in nitrogen metabolism of the "gold mining" bacterium, Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. A key part of this study was developing a novel screen that exploited the gene’s regulatory role in gas production of bacteria.

My Postdoctoral stint was spent at the University of California, Berkeley, USA (1991-1993). The host laboratory was at the cutting edge of describing the transcriptional regulation of nitrogen metabolism in bacteria. My research contributed to understanding the biochemistry of DNA bending by integration host factor and phosphorylation-based two-component transcriptional activation.

On return to South Africa, I joined the Plant Biotechnology Group of the Agricultural Research Council, where I developed a research focus on polygalacturonase inhibiting proteins and their role in defence against fungal pathogens (1993 – 2000).

I joined the Plant Science Department at the University of Pretoria as a member of FABI (2000) and setup a DNA microarray facility, which formed the basis of a gene expression profiling service. With the advent of next-generation sequencing, this is now superseded by other initiatives such as the UP Genomics Laboratory. However, it laid the foundation for the genomics and bioinformatics approaches that have been implemented subsequently in the MPPI research programme.