I am the deputy director of the Biopharming Research Unit in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department at the University of Cape Town. My work focuses on production of vaccines and pharmaceuticals in plants with the view of developing vaccines and diagnostics that are affordable in developing countries. 

We have expressed a number of proteins in plants from different human and animal viruses: Human papillomavirus (HPV) coat- and oncoproteins; Avian influenza virus H5 haemagglutinin proteins; African Horse sickness virus (AHSV) coat proteins; Porcine circovirus (PCV) coat protein and Beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) coat protein. These viruses cause very different diseases: HPV is associated with cervical cancer; avian influenza can cause an influenza pandemic in birds and humans; AHSV infection plays a major role in causing severe disease in horses in sub-Saharan Africa; PCV causes disease often known as postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome and it results in enormous economic loss in the global swine industry and BFDV causes psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD) which is a highly contagious and debilitating viral disease that affects parrots and other psittacine birds.