Position
Affiliated Lecturer
Department
Haematology and Cell Biology
Office
Francois Retief Building: Block B 402
Publications (Short List)
1. De Kock A, Heyns A du P, Badenhorst P N, Coetzee M J. Human leukocyte antigens of the Free State population. SAJS Vol 93, July 1997.
2. De Kock A and Kebede E. Sequence characterization of variant alleles found at the FGA STR locus in the Free State Population. Journal of Forensic Science, Jabuary 2006, VOl. 51, No1, 199-200.
3. HALIMA HASSEN, NESER, F.W.C., DESSIE, T., DE KOCK, A. AND VAN MARLE-KOSTER E., 2006. Studies on the growth performance of native chicken ecotypes and RIR chickens under improve management systems in Northwest Ethiopia. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 18, Article#76. http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd18/6/hass18076.
4. HALIMA HASSEN, NESER, F.W.C., DE KOCK, A. AND VAN MARLE-KOSTER E., 2006. Growth rate, feed utilization and rate of survival of native and RIR chickens in Northwest Ethiopia. S. Afr. J. Anim. Sci. 36: 5 (Supplement 1) 71-73
5. HALIMA HASSEN, NESER, F.W.C., DE KOCK, A. AND VAN MARLE-KOSTER E., 2007. Villaged based indigenous chickenproduction systems in North-West Ethopia. Trop Anim Health Prod. 39:189-197
6. HALIMA HASSEN, NESER, F.W.C., DE KOCK, A. AND VAN MARLE-KOSTER E., 2007. Phenotypic variations of native chicken populations in north-west Ethopia. Trop Anim Health Prod 39:507-513
7. HALIMA HASSEN, NESER, F.W.C., DE KOCK, A. AND VAN MARLE-KOSTER E., 2007. Genetic variations of indigenous chicken populations in north-west Ethiopia using microsatellite markers. African Biotechnology Journal (Submitted)
8. Halima H, Neser FWC, de Kock A & Marle-Koster EV. Phenotipic and genetic variation within and between native chicken populations in northwest Ethiopia. World’s Poultry Science Journal, Book of abstracts, Volume 63, Supplement 2.
My work constitutes an expert service to the community, i.e. Paternity Testing. These investigations are mostly referred to me by the maintenance courts or attorneys, although private appointments are also accepted. Currently we perform tests on 300-350 trios per year. The analysis of paternity is done by means of an investigation of repetitive regions (Short Tandem Repeats or STRs) that are found on DNA. These STRs are amplified using the PCR reaction and primers marked with fluorescent dyes. Electrophoresis follows on a DNA Genetic Analyser and the data is analysed with special software. I am regularly called upon to serve as an expert witness in court cases concerning maintenance. I also run an External Quality Assurance programme, PAPPA (Proficiency Assessment Programme for Paternity Analysis) for paternity testing from Bloemfontein. Currently there are eight South Afican laboratories that take part.
Furthermore we provide a service to researchers who are involved in DNA sequencing and AFLP analyses.
I am the head of the section which does Histocompatibility Testing for transplantation purposes as well as disease association studies. We also test for DNA mutations involved in disease (e.g. Faktor V Leiden, Prothrombin, MTHFR and JAK2 mutations).
My research interest at the moment is to investigate mutations and other factors that are involved in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms.