the accomplishments of the joint uct/uwc masters...

The Accomplishments of the

Joint UCT/UWC Masters

programme in Structural Biology

Covers of International Journals featuring articles by students of the Masters programme: Van

Rooyen, J.M., Abratt, V.R., & Sewell, B.T. (2006), Three dimensional structure of the glutamine synthetase

from Bacteroides fragilis by single particle reconstruction, J. Mol. Biol., 361, 796-810 (left) and Thuku,

RN, Weber, BW, Varsani, A and Sewell, BT (2007) Post-translational cleavage of recombinantly expressed

nitrilase from Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 yields a stable, active helical form. FEBS Journal.274, 2099-

2018 (right)

Cumulative report on the Joint UCT/UWC Masters programme in

Structural Biology to 31 December 2006

The Accomplishments of the Structural Biology Programme

B.T. Sewell

Grant Purpose

The grant was awarded in 2002 for the establishment of a Masters degree programme in structural biology in

partnership with the University of the Western Cape. This has been accomplished

Grant Methods

All the educational methods described have been established and applied. The external programme evaluator

has given the programme a good report and has made suggestions that have been implemented.

Grant Products

1. Website developed. A website to support the masters programme giving details of timetables,

course content, student recruitment information, lectures, tutorials, reference material, access to

computer based courseware, manuals, standard operating procedures, student projects and

contributions by the students themselves continues to be maintained.

2. Work by the Masters students is being published internationally. Papers in which the work of Mr Onyemata, Mr Thuku, Ms Watermeyer and Mr van Rooyen is

reported have been published (see details below). In addition staff involved in the programme are

maintaining an impressive publication record. Mr van Rooyen, Ms Watermeyer, Mr Frouws and Ms

Kimani have all received awards for excellent presentations at conferences.

3. Computer based courseware. New courseware on basic laboratory methods has been created to

complement the new course on Protein purification and Molecular biology devised by Dr Varsani.

Course material from the EMBO workshop on three-dimensional electron microscopy has been

adapted for web presentation.

4. Ten graduates of the masters programme. At the present time ten students have graduated (six

with distinction). Two of the graduates were female and five were black. Four students have thus-far

completed their degrees in the minimum two year period.

The Status of the Masters programme

The Masters programme is located in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology in the Science Faculty

at the University of Cape Town and in the Department of Biotechnology in the Faculty of Natural Sciences

at the University of the Western Cape.

Approval of the Masters programme in Structural Biology in the Science Faculty at UCT under the

convenorship of Associate Professor B.T. Sewell was noted in the Principal’s Circular 10 2005 (item 7, pg

7). The programme is advertised in the Faculty Handbooks at both UCT and UWC. Teaching space for the

programme has been allocated in the Falmouth building at UCT and in the Biotechnology Building at UWC.

Laboratory space for the programme has been allocated in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department at

UCT. In addition space for the for the Masters students to do their projects has been provided in the

laboratories of the various supervisors.

Agreement between UCT & UWC

A Memorandum of Agreement between UCT and UWC covering many aspects of the conduct of the

programme is in place. The agreement does not cover fees.

Integration of the programme into the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at UCT

Professor Sewell delivers a three week introductory module on Structural Biology as a component of the

third year Biochemistry programme. He, Dr Varsani and Dr Weber also supervise honours projects and third

year practical projects. Masters in Structural Biology students have been recruited to demonstrate in

undergraduate laboratory practicals. A new undergraduate curriculum that will draw heavily on structural

ideas is currently being planned for implementation in 2008.

Establishment of new laboratories

The space allocated to the programme in the MCB department was configured in two areas to meet the

needs of the programme. One area was configured for molecular biology and expression from cloned DNA

and the other area was configured for protein purification. The bulk of the work of setting up the laboratories

was done by Dr Varsani, Dr Weber, Mr van Rooyen and Mr Karriem. The laboratories will be used for

coursework, project work and research by participants in the programme. The space will be shared with

emeritus Professor Horst Klump who will continue his research programme for four years.

Integration of the programme into the Department of Biotechnology at UWC

Professor Sewell has been appointed as extraordinary professor in the department of Biotechnology. This

has expedited access to administrative resources at UWC. Both Dr Pugh and Dr Sayed teach undergraduates

in the department. Dr Sayed has taken on a substantial load as indicated below.

BTY 221 Course co-coordinator

and lecturer

Introduction to Proteins,

Structure and function

3 weeks 1st term

BTY 325 lecturer Protein crystallography and

HIV protease drug discovery

2 weeks 3rd term

BTY333 lecturer Structural Bioinformatics 2 weeks 4th term

BTY 715 lecturer Protein structure

determination

2 weeks 2nd term

BTY 707 lecturer Recombinant Protein

Expression and Purification

2 weeks 2nd term

Integration of the MSc programme has been simple as it is seen as a natural extension of departmental

activities and all lecturing staff within the programme are from the same department. Furthermore the

industrial enzyme research is a cornerstone of the department and a variety of projects undertaken by the

students have originated from within the department.

The Establishment of the BSc(Hons) in Structural Biology

Our experience with the MSc (Structural Biology) in its present form unequivocally supports rearrangement

of the programme in which the coursework and project components are presented as logically separate

entities. We believe that this is educationally sound as well as having a number of advantages from the

administrative, financial and recruitment viewpoints. Thus students completing their first year would be

awarded the BSc (Hons) (Structural Biology) which would then enable them to proceed with a Masters by

dissertation or indeed a PhD if they so desired. The detailed proposal for a BSc (Hons) (Structural Biology)

to be run in the Biotechnology Department at UWC was approved by the Department of Education for

submission to the Higher Education Quality Committee for final accreditation. The content of the BSc

(Hons) very closely parallels the first year of the Masters programme. The BSc (Hons) is being offered at

UWC in 2007 as an alternative to the Masters programme in such a way that students may, if they wish,

register for either degree but will undertake the same course of study. Three students registered for the BSc

(Hons) and two students registered for the MSc.

Programme and Teaching Staff

The programme as it stands is well structured. The core lecturers are now: Trevor Sewell, David Pugh,

Arvind Varsani, Muhammed Sayed, David McIntosh, Edward Sturrock, Michelle Kuttel, Elizabeth van der

Merwe, Heinrich Hoppe and Dirk Lang.

The course has been logically defined as comprising ten modules

Topics Lecturer(s)

Computational and Mathematical Primer Pugh

Molecular biology primer Varsani

Supervised self-study: Principles of Protein Structure

Sayed

Protein expression and purification Varsani

Structural cell biology Lang, van der Merwe, Hoppe

Technique 1: Structural Bioinformatics and Molecular Modelling

Kuttel, Sayed, Varsani, Sewell

Technique 2: X-ray crystallography of proteins Sayed, Sewell

Technique 3: Protein Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy

Pugh

Technique 4: Three dimensional Electron Microscopy

Sewell, Varsani

Applications of Structural Biology Drug design,Virus Structure and Membrane proteins

Sturrock, McIntosh, Varsani

A new and thorough module on protein expression and purification was established in 2006 for the Masters

program in Structural Biology. This included practical and well as theory on principles of expression

systems, protein purification using ion exchange, affinity and gel filtration chromatography and purification

of viruses and virus like particles by ultracentrifugation. This 3 week module was run and established by Dr

Varsani with the assistance of Dr Brandon Weber.

Dr Pugh has undertaken substantial development of the Computational and Mathematical Primer (CMP) and

Protein NMR spectroscopy modules. His CMP module is a completely original and novel approach to

teaching mathematical concepts to biology students using computers. It is his intention to publish this course

as there has been considerable interest in it.

The Three Dimensional Electron Microscopy Module has benefited by the inclusion of the lectures

developed for the European Molecular Biology Organization workshop on electron microscope image

processing. This two week course has been held three times at Birkbeck College in London and is probably

the world’s premier introductory course on the topic. The lectures are being delivered as part of the

programme by Trevor Sewell. In addition new practical modules developed by former students Jason van

Rooyen and Timothy Frouws have been added.

Progress on the shape and form of the module in Structural Bioinformatics has continued steadily. Financial

support for the development of the module has been obtained from the National Bioinformatics Network

(NBN) and a truncated version of the course has been delivered annually as a component of their

introductory series on Bioinformatics. NBN has also sponsored visits by foreign experts who have both

interacted with the structural biology staff and students and have contributed to the development of the

syllabus. Dr Gert Vriend of Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, has arranged sponsorship of

two South Africans to attend his programme. This occurred as a result of his participation in the First

African Structural Biology Conference, which was sponsored by the National Bioinformatics Network. One

of these young people, Mr Mario Jonas from the University of the Western Cape is attending the course and

will give lectures to the Masters and Honours students in 2007.

The module on the applications of structural biology has also matured. Three areas are addressed – drug

discovery by Professor Sturrock, Virus structure by Dr Varsani and the structural basis of ion transport

through membranes by Professor McIntosh. These areas enable the students to see some of the high points in

Structural Biology which are of immediate interest in the local environment.

Workshops

The protein crystallization workshop designed by Dr Nneji has been scheduled for 3-7 July 2007 and will be

conducted by Dr Sayed. A condensed version of the “Structural Bioinformatics” course was given for

approximately 20 students of the National Bioinformatics Network in March 2007 by Trevor Sewell,

Muhammed Sayed with technical assistance from Ndoria Thuku. The courses were very well received by the

students.

Course delivery and assessment in 2006

Lecture courses were given by David Pugh, Dirk Lang, Liz van der Merwe, Heinrich Hoppe, Michelle

Kuttel, Gwen Nneji, Muhammed Sayed, Ed Sturrock, Michael Lawrence, Arvind Varsani, Trevor Sewell

David McIntosh, Joachim Frank and Ed Egelman.

Twelve internal assessments and one external assessment were conducted.

The overall results were as follows:

Jennifer Miller 82

Johann Eicher 69

Michelo Simuyandi 45

Visiting Lecturers 2003-2006

In the interest of sustainability the dependence on visiting lecturers is being reduced. Ad hoc arrangements

will continue to be made when funds become available. However, the visiting lectures have played a

significant and lasting role and their intellectual input into the programme has been absorbed by the local

lecturers. It is planned that only Dr Lawrence, Dr Atkinson and Professor Egelman will lecture in 2007.

Lecturer Institution Subject Years of visit

Dr Jim Pflugrath Rigaku MSc Protein Crystallography 2003

Dr Michael Lawrence CSIRO Melbourne Aus Protein Cryatallography 2003, 2004, 2005,2006

Dr Alan Roseman MRC-LMB Cambridge Electron Microscopy 2005

Professor Edward

Egelman

University of Virginia Electron Microscopy 2003, 2004, 2005,

2006

Dr Holger Schieb University of Geneva Structural

Bioinformatics

2006

Professor Michael Benedik Texas A&M University Molecular Biology 2006

Dr Gwen Nneji Imperial College,

London

Crystallization 2004, 2005, 2006

Dr Richard Tyrrell Rigaku MSc Protein Crystallography 2004

Dr Andrew Atkinson CNRS France NMR spectroscopy 2006

Professor Helen Saibil Birkbeck College

London

Electron Microscopy 2003

Professor Joachim Frank Wadsworth Labs, Albany Electron Microscopy 2006

Dr Elena Orlova Birkbeck College

London

Electron Microscopy 2004

Dr Andrew Atkinson CNRS, France NMR spectroscopy 2006

Student projects

During this reporting period we have had up to seventeen students at different levels (ranging from third

year to PhD) working simultaneously on structural biology projects. The majority were accommodated in

the new laboratories established in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and they were supervised

by Dr Varsani who spent some 1200 hrs per annum on student supervision. Mr Chitapi was accommodated

in Professor Sturrock’s laboratory, Mr Murungi in Professor McIntosh’s laboratory, Mr Adusei-Danso was

supervised by Professor Kotwal and split his time between his laboratory and the crystallization laboratory

at UWC, Mr Onyemata and Ms Mulaudzi worked in Dr Pugh’s laboratory and Mr Kwofie worked in

Professor Cowan’s laboratory.

Mr Adusei-Danso, Mr Chitapi, Mr Kwofie and Mr Woodward have graduated since September 2006. Mr

Chitapi and Mr Woodward were both awarded their degrees with distinction. Ms Kimani has submitted her

dissertation and it is currently under examination. Mr van Rooyen, Ms Watermeyer, Mr Thuku and Mr

Onyemata commenced work on their PhD’s in structural biology at UCT and UWC. Ms Scheffer is

currently working at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. Mr Frouws will

soon take up PhD scholarship at ETH in Zurich, Mr Woodward has applied for a PhD scholarship at ETH

and Ms Miller has been awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to study in Cambridge. Ms Kimani has been

awarded an exchange scholarsip at the University of British Columbia and will return in July to commence

work on her PhD at UCT. Mr Kwofie is working as an intern at the National Bioinformatics Network and

Mr Adusei Danso is looking for a PhD position in the United States. Mr Chitapi has become a business

consultant.

Student Dissertation Title

2003 cohort

Jason van Rooyen Three-Dimensional Structure of a Type III Glutamine

Synthetase by Single Particle Reconstruction.

Jean Watermeyer Human Testis Angiotensin-converting Enzyme: Crystal

Structure of a Glycosylation Mutant and Investigation of a

Putative Hinge-mechanism by Normal Mode Analysis.

Ndoria Thuku The Structure of the Nitrilase from Rhodococcus rhodochrous

J1: Homology modeling and three-dimensional reconstruction

Felix Adusei-Danso Systemic approach to protein crystallization: emphasis on

Vaccinia virus complement control protein

Timothy Frouws Iterative helical real-space reconstruction of histone octamer

tubular crystals and implications for the 30nm chromatin fibre.

James Onyemata Investigation of the interaction of Ceramide and Acyl

Coenzyme-A with the Murine apoptosis associated protein

Endozepine using heteronuclear NMR.

2004 cohort

Serah Kimani The crystal structure of Geobacillus pallidus RAPc8 amidase

Margot Scheffer Helical structures of the cyanide degrading enzymes from

Gloeocercospora sorghi and Bacillus pumilus providing

insights into nitrilase quaternary interactions.

Samuel Kwofie Crystal structure of a mutant nitrile hydratase

Itai Chitapi Structural Characterization of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme

Active Site Sub-sites

2005 cohort

Takalani Mulaudzi Investigation of the zinc binding characteristics of the RING

finger domain from the human RBBP6 protein using

heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy.

Edwin Murungi Towards a crystal structure of Plasmodium falciparum HPRT-

Chalcone complex

Jeremy Woodward The feasibility of high resolution, three-dimensional

reconstruction of metal-coated surfaces in structural biology

2006 cohort

Jennifer Miller Comparison of the structures of the dinoflagellate (Heterocapsa

circularisquama) infecting RNA virus strains HcRNAV109

and HcRNAV34.

Johann Eicher The effect of pH on the oligomeric state of the nitrilase from

Bacillus pumilus

Recruitment of students

Recruiting lectures were presented to students and staff at the Universities of Witwatersrand, Pretoria, Natal,

Stellenbosch and Cape Town by Trevor Sewell.

A new poster advertising the programme (the third) was created and was widely distributed to students of

cognate University departments throughout South Africa and neighbouring countries.

Posters advertising the programme were put up at conferences, scientific meetings and University open days.

The brochure designed last year has also been widely distributed.

Fees

The fees for the programme in the Science Faculty at UCT were increased with effect from 2006 from

R9500 to R19500 for the first year and from R3500 to R9500 for the second year.

These fees contrast with those at UWC which in 2007 will be R13270 for the first year and R550 for the

second and subsequent years.

Should the programme register eight or more students per year it will receive a fee rebate from the Science

Faculty at UCT which could be deployed as a bursary to the students.

Fees are not set by the programme and no policy is in place to deal with the significant fee disparity.

A sustainable future

It remains imperative that the discipline of structural biology, the teaching programme and the collaboration

between UCT and UWC in this area are all put on a sustainable footing. Professor Sewell has propagated a

three level approach to the development of structural biology in South Africa – education, research and

application. It is his vision that students who are educated in the programme will find employment in

research in which crucial problems will be addressed from the structural point of view and that from this

research, applications will emerge which will create opportunities in the pharmaceutical, agrichemical and

industrial enzyme areas.

The sources of funding that are readily available in South Africa are the National Research Foundation and

the subsidy from the Department of Education. The former provides little more than the funding necessary

for postgraduate research and is not designed to sustain either posts or major equipment. The latter funding

does not flow into the programme in a transparent manner. Rather, the Deans in the Faculties of Science at

UCT and Natural Sciences at UWC have the power to deploy this money at their discretion and may choose

to support Structural Biology. UCT in particular has strict criteria based on student numbers for the

sustainability of Masters Programmes. The Structural Biology Masters Programme has not attracted the

number of students necessary to meet these criteria.

However – judging the impact of the programme in these terms does not do it justice. There is no doubt that

Structural Biology is important both as an academic component of a biological sciences education and for

the potential economic benefits that have been mentioned frequently before. The programme has introduced

Structural Biology to the African Continent and has resulted in measurable output in terms of students

educated and structures determined. In a very real sense the programme is justified by the contribution of the

Masters students to research. Thus the development of a research environment of relevance to South Africa

both to support the programme and to benefit from the programme is essential. The significance of

determining the three dimensional structures of proteins in Africa is widely recognized. A number of

funding agencies have supported the research of the teachers in the programme, the work of the students and

the continuation of the students into PhD research. Even so, it is clear that the benefits that programme has

delivered will be lost unless a major sponsor is found.

The only appropriate sponsor is the Department of Science and Technology. Professor Sewell has met with

representatives of the Department on many occasions over the past two years and they have defined the

criteria under which a proposal for the ongoing support of Structural Biology would be considered.

Fulfilling the criteria would entail a significant expansion of the programme. The scope would have to be

broadened to encompass research and application and centres outside of the Western Cape would need to be

established.

The Department has demonstrated support by partially funding the First African Structural Biology

conference and has appointed Dr Doug Sanyahumbi to facilitate and draw up an acceptable business plan

which would then be considered for funding. At the present time a proposal is under consideration which

will enable the maintenance of existing equipment and will create the infrastructure necessary to survey

national needs and put forward a proposal for a National Programme in Structural Biology. Budget has been

reserved to fund this proposal and a final funding decision is expected in April 2007.

From the point of view of the MSc programme the key elements requiring sustainable funding are the posts

of Dr Sayed and Dr Varsani, student bursaries and the maintenance and growth of the equipment

infrastructure. Dr Sayed has been appointed as a permanent member of staff in the Biotechnology

Department at UWC. Dr Varsani has been appointed on an open-ended contract, the permanence of which

depends on the availability of funding. The Science Faculty at UCT has guaranteed funding for his post for

one year after the end of the contract with the Carnegie Corporation. Dr Varsani sees his permanence as

being linked to his research performance and has energetically and successfully devoted himself to building

up his research portfolio. He has published more papers during 2006 than any other member of the MCB

staff at UCT.

The wider perspective is that sustainability of the programme will be linked to the widespread acceptance of

the structural approach to biological problems in South Africa. This in turn must be coupled to a realization

that South Africa has the people and infrastructure to do good biological structure work. Programmes such

as the South African Malaria Initiative, the South African Vaccine Initiative, various biotechnology

programmes and UCT’s drug discovery signature theme will benefit from employing our MSc graduates. At

the present time however we have too few graduates to make structural work in all these initiatives viable.

Once the critical mass is established on both the demand and supply sides the programme will become self-

sustaining.

Student Support

Funding students’ living expenses is an inadequately addressed issue. The high fees demanded by UCT have

placed a burden on the students in the programme and they have in general sought (and found) additional

financial support. However the future of the programme and the continued recruitment of students from non-

privileged backgrounds depends critically on the availability of bursaries.

The following table lists the values and sources of student funding during 2005 and 2006:

Ndoria Thuku 2005

UCT International student scholarship -

R18,000.00

CSIR/EMU studentship -

R30,000.00

UCT/UWC Structural Biology Scholarship

R2450

Total of R50,450.00

Felix Adusei-Danso UCT/UWC Structural Biology Scholarship

R10 000

Wellcome Grant to G. Kotwal R50,000

Timothy Frouws UCT/UWC Structural Biology Scholarship

R2450

Serah Kimani 2005


R22,000

UCT senior entrance bursary R8,000

UCT international students scholarship

R18,000

Polio Research Foundation Bursary.

R12,500

Total R60,500

2006


R30,000

UCT International Students Scholarship

R9,000

UCT senior entrance bursary R4,000

Polio Research Foundation R12,500

Total R55,500

Margot Scheffer 2005

NRF grantholder: R20,000


R22,000

Samuel Kwofie UCT/UWC Structural Biology Scholarship

2005 R22,000

Itai Chitapi 2005 UCT/UWC Structural Biology

Scholarship R22,000

2006 UCT/UWC Structural Biology

Scholarship R30,000

Takalani Mulaudzi 2005 NRF 40000


30000

2006 UCT/UWC Structural Biology

Scholarship R24000

NRF R40000

Edwin Murungi 2005- UCT/UWC Structural Biology

Scholarship R 32, 000

2006- UCT/UWC Structural Biology

Scholarship R 20 000, R 20 000 (Top up

from Prof. McIntosh)

Jeremy Woodward UCT/UWC Structural Biology Scholarship

R54 000

NRF grant-holder: R20 000

Jennifer Miller Nellie Brown Spilhaus Scholar R20,000.00


R19,510.00

NRF SET Scarce Skills Scholar

R40,000.00

KW Johnston Bequest R 2,000.00

Total: R81,510.00

Johann Eicher UCT/UWC Structural Biology Scholarship

R59 500

Michelo Simuyandi UCT/UWC Structural Biology Scholarship

R59 500

In addition opportunities were created for the students to work for the programme. The students who took

advantage of this were Ms M. Scheffer, Ms Serah Kimani and Mr Samuel Kwofie. Their income from this

source was approximately R10000 each.

Research by Dr Varsani and Dr Sayed

Homologous recombination in viruses (Dr Varsani)

The main objective of this project is to develop a high through put full genome sequence retrieval, alignment

and recombination analysis protocol. In addition we will

1) Conduct recombination analysis of full genome sequence alignments of most described virus

family/genus groupings and construct high-resolution recombination breakpoint and recombinant

region density maps.

2) Correlate breakpoint and recombinant region maps with experimentally determined nucleotide

sequence domains (binding sites, origins of replication, regions of nucleic acid secondary structure)

and sequences encoding protein structural and functional domains.

3) Demonstrate, using a novel in vivo model recombination system, how naturally occurring

breakpoint profiles for three of the virus genera examined (Mastreviruses, Begomoviruses and

circoviruses) are highly correlated with experimentally determined sequence modularity profiles.

Characterization of the neutralizing epitopes of Human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 and novel vaccine

development using HPV as a vector for foreign epitope presentation. (Dr Varsani)

Major goals of this study are to characterize the immunodominant epitope of HPV-16 L1 that complexes

neutralizing Mab H16:V5 by 3D cryo-electron microscopy, determine the surface exposure of the cross

neutralization epitope of HPV-16 L2 in HPV-16 L1/L2 virus-like-particles (VLPs), study the effect of HPV-

16 L1 C- and N-terminal fusion with green fluorescence protein (GFP) on virus-like particle assembly and

study the effect of co-expression of HPV-16 L1 and L2 peptide (aa 396 - 439)/GFP fusion on VLP

assembly.

The structure and mechanism of industrial enzymes (Dr Sayed)

This research concerns the molecular basis of the specificity of a group of industrial enzymes called

amidases and nitrile hydratases using X-ray crystallography and protein engineering methods. The aim is to

use the structural information in order to improve the specificity of these enzymes as an industrially valuable

biocatalyst. This project is in collaboration with Trevor Sewell (UCT) and Donald Cowan (UWC).

Student supervision: Miss JC van Wyk (Doctoral), V Agarkar (Post-doctoral) and S Kimani (Masters)

Transforming growth factor (Dr Sayed)

The transforming growth factor-b (TGF-b) superfamily of signaling molecules plays an essential role in

many important cellular processes such as the regulation of cellular proliferation, apoptosis, recognition,

differentiation and specification of developmental fate. Given the importance of these molecules in

embryogenesis as well as in mature tissues, it is not surprising the dysfunction of TGF-b signaling pathways

has been linked with an increasing number of human diseases including fibrotic, inflammatory and

developmentally related disorders and cancers. Clearly, more structural and functional data are needed to

understand how TGF-beta superfamily members are regulated prior to receptor binding which is the major

focus of my project. The results of such studies will contribute towards new methods for the diagnosis and

treatment of TGF-beta related disorders. Collaborator: Dr. Tariq Ali - Oxford

The structure of the anti-oxidant enzyme XvPrx2 from the drought tolerant plant Xerophyta viscosa (Dr

Sayed)

Climate variability in Southern Africa poses a direct danger to food security in the region with particular

respect to maize as it is relatively intolerant to drought (Tschirley et al. 2004). Maize is Africa’s second most

important food crop and is the main nutritional source in South Africa (UNFAO/CIMMYT, 1997). Thus

efforts to improve the drought tolerance of maize will improve food security in the region. Desiccation in

plants results in oxidative stress due to the excessive production of reactive oxygen species which leads to

either cell damage or cell death. Xerophyta viscosa, an indigenous desiccation-tolerant plant, produces

several antioxidant enzymes to protect the plant from oxidative damage during desiccation. A novel

antioxidant enzyme, XvPrx2 belonging to a new type of antioxidant family, peroxiredoxin (Prxs) has been

isolated from X.viscosa. XvPrx2 is a possible candidate for maize transformation to produce drought-

tolerant maize. My project in collaboration with Dr Rafudeen at UCT aims to develop an understanding of

the molecular basis for XvPrx2 function and specificity by means of X-ray crystallography. Student

supervision: J Onyemata (Doctoral)

Research Grants for Structural Projects raised by programme participants

The NRF and the Poliomyelitis Research Foundation have demonstrated support for Structural Biology

projects. Applications to the Medical Research Council for support have failed.

Homologous recombination in viruses

PI: A. Varsani, D. Martin

National Research Foundation – Focus area grant – Unlocking the future (2006-2007)

R100k

Characterization of the neutralizing epitopes of Human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 and novel vaccine

development using HPV as a vector for foreign epitope presentation.

PI: A. Varsani

Poliomyelitis Research Foundation – Junior development grant (2004-2007)

R300k

Structural Studies of Nitrile Hydratases

PI: Sayed M, D. Cowan

National Research Foundation (IRDP)

R250k pa 3 years 2004-2006

Structural Studies of Thermostable Amidases

PI: Sayed M, BT Sewell

Students: S. Kimani, V. Agarkar (Post-doctoral)

National Research Foundation (Focus Area)

R250k pa 2 years 2006-2007

Synchrotron usage (High Intensity X-ray beam from BM 14, Grenoble)

Grant holder: Sayed M.

Student involved: I. Chitapi

National Research Foundation (Mobility and Training grants)

R40k 1 year 2006

NMR investigations of MyBP-C interactions

PI: Dr D. Pugh

NRF Focus Area: Unique South African Opportunities

Students involved: Mr. K. Kaunda (M.Sc)

R75 000

RBBP6 structure and function using NMR

PI: Dr D. Pugh

Students involved: Mr. A. Faro (Ph.D), Mr. M. Chibi (Ph.D)

NRF Focus Area: Economic Growth and International Competitiveness

R100 000

Project title: NMR structuring of DWNN domains

PI: Dr D. Pugh

Students involved: Ms Takalani Mulaudzi (M.Sc), Mr A. Kappo (Ph.D)

NRF University Research Development Programme

R62 000 plus R61 000 from UWC matching funds

Study of RBBP6 proteins and transfer of expertise in NMR

PI: Dr D. Pugh

People involved: Dr A. Atkinson, Sabbatical Fellow on secondment from the CNRS, Strasbourg, France

SA/France Bilateral Agreement (PROTEA Scheme)

R128 000

Three week visit to laboratory of Prof Etienne Weiss, Strasbourg, France, April 2006

Grant holder: Dr D. Pugh

People involved: Mr A Faro

NRF Mobility Grant

Airfare to NMRFAM workshop, Madison Wisconsin, July 2006

Grant holder: Dr D Pugh

NRF Mobility Grant

pH dependent structural changes in the nitrilases (2005-2006)

PI: B.T Sewell,

Students: J Woodward (MSc) N. Thuku (PhD)

NRF Focus Area, Unlocking the future

R101 250 p/a

Structure and function of the nitrilases (2006 – 2007)

PI: B.T. Sewell,

Students: T.D. Frouws (PhD) J. Frederick (PhD)


R177,500 p/a

Nitrogen metabolizing enzymes from Bacteroides fragilis (2004-2006)

PI: VR Abratt, BT Sewell.

Student: JM van Rooyen (PhD)


R80,000 p/a

Enhancing the nitrilase from Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 (2005-2007)

PI: BT Sewell, D Brady

Student: N. Thuku (PhD)

CSIR Bio/Chemtek

R30000 p/a in 2005 & 2006 to increase to R80000 in 2007.

The development of a course in Structural Bioinformatics

PI: B.T. Sewell

National Bioinformatics Network

R40 000 in 2005 and R50 000 in 2006

Docking Atomic Structures into Low-Resolution Maps

PI: Michelle Kuttel

Students: Guy Stern (2005), Andrew Snowden(2005), Dumisani Campbell (2006), Ian Kitely (2006) and

Jannie Jansen Van Vuuren (2006)

R142000 (2006), R80 000(2005)

Structural studies on ACE and structure-based inhibitor design

PI: E.D. Sturrock

Wellcome Trust

R960k p/a 5 years 2004-2008

Publications

Publications including Masters Students

van Rooyen, J.M., Abratt, V.R., & Sewell, B.T. 2005, “Three dimensional structure of the glutamine

synthetase from Bacteroides fragilis by single particle reconstruction”, J. Mol. Biol., vol 361, issue 4, pp.

796-810.

Sturrock, E.D., Natesh, R., van Rooyen, J.M., & Acharya, K.R. 2004, “Structure of angiotensin I-converting

enzyme”, Cell Mol Life Sci, 61, 2677-2686.

Sewell BT, Thuku RN, Zhang X, Benedik MJ (2005). Oligomeric structure of nitrilases: effect of mutating

interfacial residues on activity. Ann N Y Acad Sci.1056: 153-9.

Thuku, RN and BT Sewell (2005). The quaternary structure of Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 nitrilase as

revealed by negative staining. Proceedings of the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa 35, 31.

J Onyemata, M Meyer, J McKenzie, DJG Rees, DJR Pugh (2005): Investigation of the binding of ceramide

and palmitoyl-CoA to murine t-ACBP using heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy. South African Journal of

Science, 101:430–434.

Watermeyer, J., Sewell, BT, Schwager, SL, Natesh, R, Corradi, HR, Acharya, KR and Edward D. Sturrock,

ED (2006) Structure of testis ACE glycosylation mutants and evidence for conserved domain movement.

Biochemistry, 45; 12654-12663

Agarkar VB , Kimani, SW, Cowan, DA, Sayed,

MF-R., Sewell, BT (2006) The quaternary structure of the

amidase from Geobacillus pallidus RAPc8 is revealed by its crystal packing, Acta Cryst. F62 , 1174-1178

Thuku, RN, Weber, BW, Varsani, A and Sewell, BT (2007) Post-translational cleavage of recombinantly

expressed nitrilase from Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 yields a stable, active helical form. FEBS

Journal.274, 2099-2018

Corradi, H., Chitapi, I., Sewell, B. T, Georgiadis, D., Dive, V., Sturrock, E, Acharya, K. R. (2007) The

Structure of Testis ACE in Complex with the C Domain-Specific Inhibitor RXPA380, Biochemistry (in

press)

Other structural publications by programme members

E AB, DJR Pugh, R Kaptein, R Boelens, AM Bonvin: Direct use of unassigned resonances in NMR

structure calculations with proxy residues. J Am Chem Soc 2006, 128:7566-71.

DJR Pugh, E AB, A Faro, PT Lutya, E Hoffmann, DJG Rees: DWNN, a novel ubiquitin-like domain,

implicates RBBP6 in mRNA processing and ubiquitin-like pathways. BMC Struct Biol 2006, 6:1

(http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6807/6/1)

PDB submission: DJR Pugh, E AB, A Faro, PT Lutya, E Hoffmann, DJG Rees , PDB: 2C7H, Solution

NMR Structure Of The DWNN Domain From Human RBBP6, Accepted 25 Nov 2005

DJR Pugh: Biomolecular NMR in South Africa: the first five years. South African Journal of Science 2005,

101:421–429.

Nchinda, A. T., Chibale, K., Redelinghuys, P., and Sturrock, E.D (2006) Synthesis and molecular modeling

of a lisinopril-tryptophan analogue inhibitor of angiotensin I-converting enzyme. Bioorg. Med.

Chem. Lett 16(17), 4616-4619

Nchinda, A. T., Chibale, K., Redelinghuys, P., and Sturrock, E.D (2006) Synthesis of novel keto-ACE

analogues as domain-selective angiotensin-I converting enzyme inhibitors. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett

16(17), 4612-4615

Corradi, H.R., Schwager, S.L.U., Nchinda, A. T., and Sturrock, E.D.,

and Acharya, K.R. (2006) Crystal structure of the N domain of human somatic angiotensin-I converting

enzyme provides a structural basis for domain-specific inhibitor design. J.Mol. Biol. 357(3), 964-74

Redelinghuys, P., Nchinda, A. T., Chibale, K., and Sturrock, E.D (2006) Novel Ketomethylene inhibitors of

angiotensin-I converting enzyme: Inhibition and molecular modelling. Biol Chem 387(4), 461-

Redelinghuys, P., Nchinda, A. T., and Sturrock, E.D. (2005) Development of domain-selective angiotensin-I

converting enzyme inhibitors. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1056, 160-175

Varsani, A., Williamson, A. L., Rose, R. C., Jaffer, M., Rybicki, E. P., 2003. Expression of Human

papillomavirus type 16 major capsid protein in transgenic Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi. Arch.Virol. 148,

1771-1786.

Varsani, A., Williamson, A. L., de, V. D., Becker, I., Christensen, N. D., Rybicki, E. P., 2003. Chimeric

human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) L1 particles presenting the common neutralizing epitope for the L2

minor capsid protein of HPV-6 and HPV-16. J.Virol. 77, 8386-8393.

Varsani, A., Williamson, A. L., Stewart, D., Rybicki, E. P., 2006. Transient expression of Human

papillomavirus type 16 L1 protein in Nicotiana benthamiana using an infectious tobamovirus vector. Virus

Res. 120, 91-96.

Shepherd, D. N., Martin, D. P., Varsani, A., Thomson, J. A., Rybicki, E. P., Klump, H. H., 2006.

Restoration of native folding of single-stranded DNA sequences through reverse mutations: an indication of

a new epigenetic mechanism. Arch.Biochem.Biophys. 453, 108-122.

Varsani, A., van der, W. E., Heath, L., Rybicki, E. P., Williamson, A.

L., Martin, D. P., 2006. Evidence of ancient papillomavirus recombination. J.Gen.Virol. 87, 2527-2531.

Heath, L., van der, W. E., Varsani, A., Martin, D. P., 2006.

Recombination patterns in aphthoviruses mirror those found in other picornaviruses. J.Virol. 80, 11827-

11832.

Kohl, T., Hitzeroth, I. I., Stewart, D., Varsani, A., Govan, V. A.,

Christensen, N. D., Williamson, A. L., Rybicki, E. P., 2006. Plant-produced cottontail rabbit papillomavirus

L1 protein protects against tumor challenge: a proof-of-concept study. Clin.Vaccine Immunol. 13, 845-853.

Varsani, A., Williamson, A. L., Jaffer, M. A., Rybicki, E. P., 2006. A deletion and point mutation study of

the human papillomavirus type 16 major capsid gene. Virus Res. 122, 154-163.

Owor, B. E., Shepherd, D. N., Taylor, N. J., Edema, R., Monjane, A. L.,

Thomson, J. A., Martin, D. P., Varsani, A., 2007. Successful application of FTA Classic Card technology

and use of bacteriophage phi29 DNA polymerase for large-scale field sampling and cloning of complete

maize streak virus genomes. J.Virol.Methods 140, 100-105.

Bredell, H., Martin, D. P., Van, H. J., Varsani, A., Sheppard, H. W.,

Donovan, R., Gray, C. M., Study Team, Williamson, C., 2007. HIV Type 1 Subtype C gag And nef

Diversity in Southern Africa. AIDS Res.Hum.Retroviruses 23, 477-481.

Kuhnert DC, Sayed Y, Mosebi S, Sayed M, Sewell BT, Dirr HW. (2005) Tertiary interactions stabilise the

C-terminal region of human glutathione transferase A1-1: a crystallographic and calorimetric study. J Mol

Biol. 349, 825-38.

Jandhyala,DM, Willson,RC, Sewell,BT and Benedik,MJ.(2005). Analysis of Three Microbial Cyanide

Degrading Enzymes. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 68, 327-335

Tastan Bishop AO, Sewell T (2006) A new approach to possible substrate binding mechanisms for nitrile

hydratase. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 343,319-25.

Makhongela HS, Glowacka, A., Agarkar VB, Sewell, BT, Weber, B, Cameron RA., Cowan DA, and Burton

SG (2007) Molecular characterization and immobilization of D-specific amidase from Geobacillus pallidus.

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology ( in press)

Abdul Ajees A, Gunasekaran K, Volanakis JE, Narayana SV, Kotwal GJ, Murthy HM. (2006) The structure

of complement C3b provides insights into complement activation and regulation. Nature. 444(7116):221-5.

Epub 2006 Oct 15.

Gomes Pereira NA, Juliano MA, Carmona AK, Sturrock ED, Kotwal GJ. (2005) Cloning and expression of

a functionally active truncated N-glycosylated KSHV ORF4/KCP/kaposica in the methylotrophic yeast

Pichia pastoris. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1056:388-404.

Ghebremariam YT, Odunuga OO, Janse K, Kotwal GJ. (2005) Humanized recombinant vaccinia virus

complement control protein (hrVCP) with three amino acid changes, H98Y, E102K, and E120K creating an

additional putative heparin binding site, is 100-fold more active than rVCP in blocking both classical and

alternative complement pathways. Ann N Y Acad Sci.;1056:113-22.

Abrahams MR, Zhang Z, Chien S, Skern T, Kotwal GJ. (2005) The vaccinia virus N1L ORF may encode a

multifunctional protein possibly targeting different kinases, one of which influences ATP levels in vivo. Ann

N Y Acad Sci. 1056:87-99.

Ganesh VK, Muthuvel SK, Smith SA, Kotwal GJ, Murthy KH. (2005) Structural basis for antagonism by

suramin of heparin binding to vaccinia complement protein. Biochemistry. Aug 16;44(32):10757-65.

.

Ganesh VK, Smith SA, Kotwal GJ, Murthy KH. (2004) Structure of vaccinia complement protein in

complex with heparin and potential implications for complement regulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Jun

15;101(24):8924-9. Epub 2004 Jun 3.

Smith SA, Sreenivasan R, Krishnasamy G, Judge KW, Murthy KH, Arjunwadkar SJ, Pugh DR, Kotwal GJ.

(2003) Mapping of regions within the vaccinia virus complement control protein involved in dose-dependent

binding to key complement components and heparin using surface plasmon resonance. Biochim Biophys

Acta. 1650(1-2):30-9.

Participation in Conferences

The work of the programme has been communicated at several local and international conferences by both

staff and students in the programme.

Conference Participants

XX IUCR Conference, Florence,

Italy, Aug 2005

Jean Watermeyer, Ozlem Tastan-Bishop

SASBMB conference, 2005,

Stellenbosch

Jean Watermeyer, Jason van Rooyen, Ozlem

Tastan-Bishop, Tsepo Tsekoa , Ndoria Thuku

MSSA 2005, Pietermaritzburg Jason van Rooyen, Timothy Frouws, Margot

Scheffer, Trevor Sewell

Virology Africa, Cape Town, 2005 Serah Kimani, Arvind Varsani

3DEM Gordon Conference, New

London, 2005

Trevor Sewell

3DEM Gordon Conference, Barga,

Italy, 2006

Ndoria Thuku, Trevor Sewell

Harry Crossley Foundation

seminar, UCT, Nov 2005

Jean Watermeyer, Trevor Sewell, Edward

Sturrock, David McIntosh, David Pugh, Alan

Roseman, Jason van Rooyen , Ndoria Thuku

IIDMM opening conference, 2005 Jean Watermeyer

Indaba 5, Kruger Park, 2005 Trevor Sewell

Lorne Conference on Protein

Structure and Function, Australia,

2005

Trevor Sewell

Gordon Conference on Proteolytic

Enzymes and their Inhibitors, New

London, 2006

Ed Sturrock

International Proteolysis Society

Meeting, Quebec City, 2005

Ed Sturrock

International Conference

on Structural Genomics.

Washington DC. November 2004

Muhammed Sayed

International School of

Crystallography 37th

Course -

Evolving methods for

Macromolecular Crystallography,

12 – 22 May 2005, Erice - Italy

Muhammed Sayed

20th Annual Symposium of the

Protein Society, 4 - 9 August

2006, San Diego - USA

Muhammed Sayed

Signature Theme “UCT Platform for Drug Discovery”

The members of the programme have worked together with others at UCT to formulate a University based

platform for drug discovery.

The proposal focuses significantly on structure. The clear vision is that UCT should research drugs for

African diseases and that these should be designed on the basis of knowledge of the structures of their

targets. The signature theme will impinge on the programme by providing projects for the students and by

providing opportunities for graduating students to further their research. The proposal has been subjected

external review and has now been adopted as a UCT Signature Theme. The structural biology component

was praised by the reviewers. Significant funding will become available as the Theme progresses. At present

seed funding in excess of R1m has been made available.

The First African Structural Biology Conference

The First African Structural Biology Conference, subtitled “Macromolecular Structure, Health and

Biotechnology in Developing Countries” was held at the Protea Hotel, The Wilderness from 24-27 October

2006. Seventeen plenary speakers with expertise in x-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, electron

microscopy and molecular modeling with specific interests in the topics related to the diseases of the

developing world were invited from the United States, Europe, India, Brazil and Australia.

The conference was opened by Dr Bethuel Sehlapelo, the deputy director general of the Department of

Science and Technology who has expressed considerable interest in the establishment of Structural Biology

in South Africa.

A total of 201 people registered for the conference, contributing ten papers and 59 posters. Of the registered

delegates 72 are non-South African and 31 are from other African countries. Sponsorship totaling R651,816

has been raised from both commercial and non-commercial funders including the Department of Science

and Technology, The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) and the

National Research Foundation.

EMBO World Course on Functional Microscopy of Host Pathogen Interactions

This course was held at the IIDMM from 28 November – 12 December 2005. The programme members who

help organize it were Trevor Sewell and Liz van der Merwe. Dr Arvind Varsani attended the course. All the

MSc students were free to attend the lectures given by 14 prominent lecturers from Europe and the United

States. The course was supported by a grant of €30,000 from the European Molecular Biology Organization

and R75,000 from the Department of Science and Technology ad well as significant contributions from

Zeiss and Olympus by way of equipment loans. It was the first time an EMBO world course had been held

on the African Continent and the logistics were formidable. The course demonstrated the latest structural

techniques for studying cells that have been attacked by pathogens such as HIV, Mycobacterium

tuberculosis and Plasmodium falciparum (malaria).

Collaborative Computer System

The Ford Foundation has made an award of USD100k for the creation of a collaborative computing system

to serve the Structural Biology programme. The concept is that students and staff at both UCT and UWC

will see the same computing system and will have identical access to courseware, programmes and data.

Existing hardware has been relocated in order to create a server cluster, new storage and networking

hardware has been purchased and a microwave link has been installed between UCT and UWC. Mr Rory

Austin was employed full time to install and configure the system. The system is now fully operational.

This long-awaited computer system is anticipated to have a major impact on both the teaching and research

aspects of the programme.

Major Equipment

The programme is dependent on data obtained from the X-ray system at UWC, the NMR spectrometer at

Stellenbosch University and the Electron Microscopes at UCT. All the machines are used frequently by the

staff and students of the programme. The machines at US and UCT are located within a well developed

equipment maintenance infrastructures.

A major development is that UCT has decided to purchase a field-emission cryo-transmission electron

microscope (FEGTEM) from the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Biology in

Cambridge, England at a cost of R2.5m. FEGTEMs are essential equipment for the visualization of

macromolecular complexes – enabling intermolecular interactions and allosteric changes to be seen.

Electron microscopy is an essential complement to atomic resolution structure determination by x-ray

crystallography.

The decision to purchase the first cryo-FEGTEM on the African Continent, ultimately taken by Professor

Cheryl de la Rey, is a significant boost to the programme and indicates strong support for Structural Biology

research at the highest levels at UCT. R1.6m of the funding required for the microscope was raised from the

National Equipment Programme of the NRF and the remainder came from UCT sources. The instrument

will be installed in July 2007.

Dr Lang and Ms van der Merwe have also been granted funding to purchase a laser confocal microscope.

This is the basic tool of structural biology at the cellular level, enabling the high resolution visualization of

fluorescently labeled molecules in living cells. Delivery is expected in the second half of 2007.

Use of international facilities

Data for three of the student projects could not be obtained on machines that are available in South Africa.

Dr Sayed, Professor Sewell and Mr Chitapi collected data on five crystals at the European Synchrotron

Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. Ms Scheffer collected data for her project on a unique metal

shadowing microscope in Zurich, Switzerland and Professor Sewell collected data for Mr van Rooyen and

Ms Scheffer on cryo-FEGTEMs Birkbeck College, London and at the European Molecular Biology

Laboratory in Heidelberg.

Conclusions

The Masters programme in Structural Biology has succeeded in delivering well structured coursework and

training students to an internationally competitive research level. A lower than anticipated number of

students have enrolled for the programme, but factors have been identified that may improve this situation

and lead to its sustainability. Ultimately the widespread local acceptance of the structural approach to

biological problems will automatically lead to employment opportunities and to increased enrolment.

The creation of this programme on the continent of Africa is remarkable. It has proved that Africans,

working on African soil, can undertake structural studies on proteins and thus participate fully in the

international effort to understand living systems. This is certain to have an impact on finding solutions to the

medical and agricultural problems of Africa.

I would like to thank the Carnegie Corporation for helping us to fulfill this vision.

Appendix A

Student Profiles

Name Gender Country of

origin

Previous Experience Graduation

Date

(*=anticipated)

2003 cohort

Jason van Rooyen Male South

Africa

B.Sc.(Hons) with distinction, Molecular

and Cellular Biology, UCT

7 April 2005

Jean Watermeyer Female South

Africa



7 April 2005

Ndoria Thuku Male Kenya B.Sc (Hons) 1st Class, Biomedical

Sciences and Technology, Egerton

University, Kenya

21 September

2006

Felix Adusei-

Danso

Male Ghana B.Sc (Hons) 2nd

Class (Upper Division),

Biochemistry, Kwame Nkrumah Uni. of

Sci. & Technology

April 2007

Timothy Frouws Male South

Africa



21 September

2006

James Onyemata Male Nigeria BSc (Hons) Biotechnoly, University of

the Western Cape

21 September

2006

2004 cohort

Serah Kimani Female Kenya B.Sc (Hons) 1st Class, Biomedical

Sciences and Technology, Egerton

University, Kenya

* June 2007

Margot Scheffer Female South

Africa

B.Sc.(Hons) 2nd

Class, Molecular and

Cellular Biology, UCT

15 June 2006

Paul Chang** Male South

Africa

B.Sc.(Hons) 1st Class, Chemistry, UCT

Samuel Kwofie Male Ghana B.Sc (Hons) 2nd


Biochemistry, Kwame Nkrumah Uni. of

Sci. & Technology and worked at

Kinapharma

December 2006

Itai Chitapi Male Zimbabwe B.Sc.(Hons) 1st Class, Medical

Biochemistry, UCT December 2006

2005 cohort

Takalani

Mulaudzi

Female South

Africa

B.Sc.(Hons) 1st Class, Biotechnology,

UWC

Edwin Murungi Male Kenya B. Pharm., University of Nairobi * September

2007

Jeremy

Woodward

Male South

Africa

B.Sc.(Hons) 2nd


Human Biology, University of the

Witwatersrand. April 2007

2006 cohort

Jennifer Miller Female South

Africa

B.Sc (Hons) 1st Class, Chemistry, UCT

Johann Eicher Male Switzerland B.Sc.(Hons) 2nd


Molecular and Cellular Biology, UCT

Michelo

Simuyandi **

Male Zambia B.Sc (Hons) 2nd

Class Molecular and

Cell Biology, UCT

2007 cohort

Kyle Dent Male South

Africa

B.Sc (Hons) 1st Class, MCB, UCT

Dael Williamson Male South

Africa

B.Sc (Hons) 2nd

Class, Molecular

Medicine and Medical Biochemistry

** Mr Chang resigned from the programme in July 2005 because he was offered a bursary to study in the

USA

Mr Simuyandi withdrew from the programme in December 2006 as he was seriously injured in a car

accident. His health is improving and he hopes to re-join the programme in 2008.

BSc (Hons) in Structural Biology

2007 cohort

Hanna Kwon Female Korea B.Sc 1st Class,

UWC

Nicodemus Mautsa Male Zimbabwe BSc, Chemistry

and Biochemistry,

University of

Zimbabwe

Clive Mketsu Male South Africa BSc , UWC

the accomplishments of the joint uct/uwc masters...

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