A very warm congratulations to Aisha Pandor, who received a Doctoral Fellowship from the DST, and Shareefa Dalvie who was awarded the UCT Research Associateship. Aisha Pandor's research focuses on Inherited Retinal Degenerative Disorders, and the Fellowship recognises her academic achievements and social responsiveness. Shareefa Dalvie's research interest is the genetic basis of complex behavioural and psychiatric disorders. Shareefa's academic achievements and mentorship are recognised with the Research Associateship. 

Aisha Pandor

Shareefa Dalvie

The Joint International Conference of the African and Southern African Societies of Human Genetics was held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 6- 9 March 2011. There were several satellite meetings to the congress, including the Young Researcher's forum, which was an inaugural event of it's kind for the societies. 

Fiona Baine, a PhD student in the Division of Human Genetics, was awarded the prize for best Oral presentation at the Young researcher's forum, for her presentation entitled "Allele-specific silencing of the disease-causing gene in SCA1 patients in South Africa using a SNP linked to the trinucleotide expansion". 

Maureen Akinyi, an MSc student in the Division, was awarded the prize for best Oral presentation at the joint conference for her presentation entitled "Appreciating untranslated variants in human disease: functional analysis of a modifying variant in Rhodopsin". 

March was an exciting month for Genetics in Africa, as the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3 Africa) initiative met in Cape Town on 4^th and 5^th March, promoting discussions of genomics research in Africa. Dr Francis Collins (Director of the National Institutes of Health in the US) and Sir Mark Walport (Director of the Wellcome Trust), both in Cape Town for the H3 Africa meeting, jointly delivered the first Vice-Chancellor's Open Lecture of 2011 at UCT on 3^rd March. 

Fiona Baine

Maureen Akinyi

Dr Collins (left) and Sir Walport (right) (picture from the Monday Paper). 

On the 20th October 2010, PhD student Aisha Pandor presented and hosted an inspirational seminar entitled "Seeing Through the Haze: Education, research, policy and healthcare for the visual impaired". The seminar was organised in fulfillment of the David and Elaine Potter Fellowship. It was attended by patients with retinal disorders and their family members, as well as researchers in the field of hereditary blindness. The opportunity for these two groups to meet and interact was greatly appreciated by all. Presenters included a genetic counsellor, Retina South Africa's Science Director, and experts from government, academia and non-government organisations, as well as UCT's Disability Service. 

Aisha Pandor presenting at the Potter Seminar (Picture from the UCT Daily News)

The 4th annual Medical Research Council Research day took place on the 14 & 15 October 2010. The theme was Research in Health: An Innovative and Multidisciplinary Challenge. Christel Nossek from HumGen won first prize for her poster presentation at the event, entitled: "Common ABCA4 mutations in South Africans: frequencies, pathogenicity and genotype-phenotype correlations", and Zandre Bruwer from HumGen was awarded a Highly Commedable Speaker in the PhD category, for her presentation entitled: "The genetic and endoscopic surveillance clinic: underutilization of a life-saving service". 

Christel Nossek

Zandre Bruwer

On the 10th and 13th September, the Division hosted over 250 Grade 11 learners from schools across the Peninsula. The Open Days included interactive workshops about forensic genetics and genetic counselling, a laboratory experiment, discussions about genetics in the news, as well as guidance regarding various careers in the field of genetics. Lauren Watson, a PhD student in the Division, was the co-ordinator of these days and a great team effort from everyone in the Division (staff and students alike) ensured the learners had an enjoyable and informative experience!  

Lauren Watson welcoming Grade 11 learners to the Open Day