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08 May 2024
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The Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Prof Paul Oberholster, has the pleasure of inviting you to the inaugural lecture of Prof Dirk Opperman.
Date: 21 May 2024
Time: 17:30
Venue: Equitas
Click here to RSVP before Wednesday, 15 May 2024. Alternatively, contact Christelle van Rooyen on +27 51 401 9190.
About Prof Dirk Opperman
Prof Dirk Opperman obtained his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of the Free State in 2008. This was followed by postdoctoral research on directed evolution with Prof Manfred T Reetz at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research (Germany). In 2010, he was appointed in the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry. He subsequently established structural biology at the UFS, and his current research focus lies at the interface of evolutionary and structure-function relationships of biocatalysts, and their application in green chemistry. He is an NRF B-rated researcher with co-authored papers in Science, Nature Communications, and Angewandte Chemie.
His research has been funded by both local and international organisations, ranging from industries such as SASOL to the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF, UK). He has a long-standing collaboration with researchers at the Delft University of Technology (TUDelft, the Netherlands) and is currently part of a European Research Area Network Cofund (ERA-NET Cofund) partnership on Food Systems and Climate (FOSC) that develops biocatalysts for upcycling waste.
Large number of UFS department's staff and students participate in international conferences and workshops
2009-01-19
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An exceptionally large number of staff and students (25 in total) of the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the University of the Free State (UFS) participated in international conferences and workshops (poster and lecture presentations) and undertook research visits to foreign countries during 2008. This is indicative of the high level of research activities in the department and international involvement. The countries visited included Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates (Dubai emirate), France, Germany, Greece, Mauritius, Mozambique, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA. Here are, from the left, front: Prof. Hugh Patterton, Dr Lizelle Piater, Prof. Lodewyk Kock, Dr Carlien Pohl-Albertyn, Prof. Rob Bragg, Ms Sonia van Zyl, and Prof. Martie Smit; middle: Profs Garry Osthoff, Esta van Heerden, James du Preez (Departmental Chairperson), Hester Steyn, Ms Carina Bothma, Profs Koos Albertyn, Bennie Viljoen, and Derek Litthauer; back: Ms Liezl Renz, Mr Ruan Ells, Ms Chantal Smith, Mr Walter Müller, Dr Elsabé Botes, Ms Ntsoaki Leeuw, Ms Nathlee Abbai, Dr Khajamohiddin Syed, Ms Kamini Gounder, and Dr Suman Pradhan.
Photo: Supplied |