BURGERS, Dr Wendy

Main areas of expertise
HIV Pathogenesis, HIV-TB co-infection, HIV Vaccine Immunology

Positions held
Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellow in Public Health and Tropical Medicine; Former EDCTP Senior Fellow; Senior Researcher, Division of Medical Virology.

Biosketch
PhD (Cambridge). My research group focuses on the immunology of HIV pathogenesis, seeking to understand how immune hyperactivation results in ineffective immunity, drives progression to disease, and what the mechanisms and mediators of aberrant activation are. We are also studying how HIV affects the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in HIV-TB co-infected individuals, at the level of both adaptive and innate immunity, in blood and at the site of disease, the lungs. My group consists of 2 Postdocs, 3 PhD students, 2 MSc students and 1 research assistant. The work in the lab is funded by the Wellcome Trust, NIH and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Platform (EDCTP), with additional local funding from the MRC, NRF and NHLS Trust.

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HORSNELL, Dr William

Main areas of expertise
Immunology, infectious diseases, parasitology, helminth infections, co-infection, acetylcholine signalling in the immune system.

Positions held
Lecturer, Division of Immunology

Biosketch
Applied Zoology BSc (Hons) from University of Leeds (1996), PhD (Cell Biology) Royal Veterinary College, University of London (2001) followed by Post-doctoral position in the Physiological Laboratory, University of Liverpool (2001-2003). Joined Professor Frank Brombacher’s laboratory in the Division of Immunology, UCT in 2003. Appointed lecturer at UCT in 2011.

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JASPAN, Dr Heather

Main areas of expertise
HIV/AIDS, Paediatrics, Vaccines, Adolescent and neonatal HIV prevention.

Positions held
Senior Lecturer, Division of Immunology, University of Cape Town and Senior Scientist, Viral vaccines program, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute.

Biosketch
Heather completed her medical degree and PhD in Immunology at Tulane in USA, thereafter did paediatrics training at the University of Washington/ Seattle Children's Hospital. Upon completion, she returned to Africa, first to Malawi and then back home to South Africa, where she spent 5 years doing clinical HIV prevention research. In 2008, she returned to Seattle Children's to obtain Paediatric Infectious Diseases subspecialty training, returning to basic science immunology research in the laboratory of Don Sodora, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, studying oral HIV transmission. She now holds joint appointments in Immunology at UCT and at Seattle Biomed, but spends a large proportion of her time recruiting cohorts in the clinic, and in the laboratory answering immunological questions around HIV prevention in children via breastfeeding and in adolescents via sexual activities.

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LEANER, Assoc Prof Virna
Transcriptional Regulation and Cancer Biology

Main areas of expertise
Cancer Biology, Molecular Biology, Gene Expression Patterns, Transcriptional Regulation, Nuclear transport proteins

Positions held
Senior Lecturer, Medical Biochemistry, University of Cape Town
Group Leader, Transcriptional Regulation and Cancer Biology

Biosketch
PhD in Medical Biochemistry (UCT), Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, USA (1998-2003). In 2004 was awarded an MRC Career Award (SA) and appointed as senior lecturer in the Division of Medical Biochemistry in 2006.  Research interests include; (1) identifying genes associated with the development and progression of cancer, as markers and potential therapeutic targets and (2) investigating the role of transcription factors such e.g. AP-1 and associated signalling events that are altered in cancer cells.

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SCRIBA, Dr Tom

Main areas of expertise
Clinical Immunology, Tuberculosis and mycobacterial infection, novel TB vaccines

Positions held
Senior Research Officer, South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI)

Biosketch
MSc (Stell), DPhil (Oxon). Tom Scriba is Senior Research Officer at the South African TB Vaccine Initiative. He trained in HIV and mycobacterial clinical immunology. His research interests focus on immunopathology of mycobacterial infection and TB disease, correlates of risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and TB disease, immunological development in childhood and novel TB vaccine development.

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WARNER, Dr Digby
MRC/NHLS/UCT Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit

Main areas of expertise
Mycobacterial physiology, in particular the mechanisms and regulation of DNA repair and replication in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and their role in the emergence of drug resistance, the physiological consequences of drug resistance, and the role of vitamin B12 and related co-factors in mycobacterial pathogenesis.

Positions held
Senior Research Officer, MRC/NHLS/UCT Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit, the UCT node of the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research (CBTBR).

Biosketch
Dr Warner qualified with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from WITS University in 1994, but returned to university as an undergraduate student in the Faculty of Science, graduating with a BSc and then BSc (Honours) in 1999. In 2000, he joined the laboratory of Professor Valerie Mizrahi and was awarded a PhD in Molecular Biology in 2005. After completing a two-year postdoctoral training period in the same lab, he was appointed to a permanent post at the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) in Johannesburg, a position he held until December 2010 when he moved to the University of Cape Town.

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WILKINSON, Dr Katalin

Main areas of expertise
Immunology of HIV associated tuberculosis

Positions held
Senior Investigator Scientist (MRC UK)
and Honorary Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, UCT

Biosketch
PhD; tenured MRC (UK) Senior Investigator Scientist at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, seconded to the University of Cape Town at the IIDMM, in the laboratory of Professor Robert J Wilkinson. Her research interest focuses on the Immunology of HIV associated tuberculosis.

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WIYSONGE, Dr Charles Shey

Main areas of expertise
Epidemiology, Systematic reviews and meta-analysis, Vaccinology

Positions held
Programme Manager, Vaccines for Africa Initiative (VACFA).

Biosketch
Charles Shey Wiysonge, MPhil, MD, is a medical epidemiologist and vaccinologist who received medical and postgraduate training at the University of Yaoundé I (Cameroon), University of Cambridge (UK), UK Cochrane Centre (UK), and University of Cape Town (South Africa) respectively. He previously worked for the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in Cameroon, South African Cochrane Centre, South African Medical Research Council, World Health Organization (WHO), and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). His research interests have focused on childhood immunisation, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, and the translation of research evidence into policy and practice. He has on-going research collaborations with the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Sciences (Oslo, Norway), Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Basel, Switzerland), La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia), and the Centre for Evidence-based Health Care, Stellenbosch University (South Africa).

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