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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

Students selected for prestigious Stanford Sophomore College
2012-04-04

 

From the left are: Elri Marais, Palesa Mafisa, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Goodwill Shelile and Foster Lubbe. Gabriela Schroder and Saeed Abdullah were absent when the photo was taken.
Photo: Hannes Pieterse
4 April 2012


As part of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) comprehensive suite of student leadership development programmes, a strategic partnership with Stanford University, USA has been forged.

Starting in 2012, selected cohorts of high-potential second-year students will annually participate in the Stanford Sophomore College Programme. The UFS and Oxford University in the UK are the only non-Stanford participants in this strategic and unique opportunity.

Following a highly competitive selection process based on both written and oral assessment, managed by the UFS Centre for Teaching and Learning and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, the first group of six students was recently selected and will visit Stanford University from 1 – 14 September 2012.

The exclusive and high profile Sophomore College has been offered at the prestigious Stanford University on the West Coast of the US for a number of years. It takes the form of a residential summer programme for second-year students who participate and engage in intense academic exploration with peers and professors on a variety of innovative, multidisciplinary topics.

Depending on the course selected, students participate in a variety of intellectual and academic programmes, do research, work in labs, engage in readings of texts and develop presentation skills.

Some courses are held in part or entirely off campus. Advisory sessions to assist students in their preparation, academic orientation and intellectual development will be conducted prior to their departure to add value to the experience at Stanford.

The students will benefit from the programme in many ways, among others the intense academic exploration of topics with an eminent international scholar, immersion in and exploration of a field of interest, the opportunity to hone critical habits of mind, train to become a more engaged and entrepreneurial learners and collaborate and form relationships with friends and peers.
 

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