Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
05 April 2018 Photo Xolisa Mnukwa
Global genealogy explored at UFS guest lecture
Karen Ehlers, lecturer in Department of Genetics; Prof Eugenia D’Amato, guest lecturer and Associate Professor: Department of Biotechnology at the UWC, and Prof Paul Grobler Head of Department: Genetics at the UFS.

Prof Eugenia D’Amato held a lecture at the University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Genetics about the research activities she has conducted in her unit at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), in the Forensic DNA lab of the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
 
The lecture focused on research topics she has piloted, including the use of forensic markers in South Africa. Prof D’Amato also spoke on food forensics, the identification of anti-apartheid activists, understanding human genetic variation, and the implementation of novel/refined methods, with a strong emphasis on the forensic use of Y chromosome-based information.

She concluded her PhD studies at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, at the forensic lab. Currently, Prof D’Amato participates in numerous genotyping international forensic collaborations.

 “A survey of existing genetic diversity,
the distribution of diversity, the forensic
parameters and applications are a few of
the subject matters which are important
components of the GlobalFiler project.”
Prof Eugenia D’Amato

She also belongs to the working committee of the “Innocence Project South Africa”.

Her training and subsequent experience in population genetics facilitated the design of a Y chromosome “kit”, as well as the analysis and successful identification of various individuals from highly degraded DNA. Her lecture revealed interesting statistics about how poorly represented African diversity is in the existing world population databases. She explained that mechanisms that drive differentiation include random “genetic drift” and historic demographic processes.
 
Prof D’Amato indicated that her “Database Projection” project for 2018/2019 aims at profiling the population groups of South Africa, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe. She further explained that a powerful tool for forensic application has been developed, and that there is potential for other applications including haplogroup prediction and the study of demographic history, that will aid her projects in the future.

News Archive

FSSO 12 Cellists & FSSO Big Band, 11 June 2009
2009-05-29

FSSO VIRTUOSI
Thursday 11 June 2009
Odeion
19:30


FSSO 12 Cellists & FSSO Big Band

The next FSSO concert is an interesting and unusual concert with twelve cellists of the FSSO playing in the first half of the programme and the FSSO Big Band after interval.

The recently appointed cellist of the Odeion String Quartet, Anmari van der Westhuizen, is the leader of the FSSO 12 Cellists. They will be playing Bachianas brasileiras no. 1 (Villa-Lobos), an arrangement by JC Jacobs of the Largo from Dvorak’s Symphonie No. 9 (From the New World) and Allan Stephenson’ s Souvenir de Sevilla.

After interval the FSSO Big Band conducted by Paul Loep van Zuilenburg, will play well-known items like American Patrol, Haarlem Nocturne (for those of us who can remember so far back – this was the theme music of the popular Mike Hammer series), Birdland and the theme from Pink Panther.

ADMISSION:
R90 (adults)
R70 ((pensioners, students and learners)
R50 for group bookings of 10 or more
Tickets available at Computicket (at all Shoprite / Checkers shops, Mimosa Mall information desk) and at the doors.
Computicket www.computicket.com


ENQUIRIES:
Ella Kotze, tel. 051 – 401 2342

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept