Fidele Tugizimana

Biography

Dr. Fidele Tugizimana – is originally from Rwanda, and currently living in South Africa (SA). After the completion of a B.Phil. degree in Philosophy (magna cum laude, Urbaniana University, Rome 2004), Fidele enrolled in a B.Sc. Biochemistry-Chemistry program at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa in 2006. In 2012, he completed an M.Sc. in Biochemistry (cum laude). His M.Sc. research involved using a multi-platform (LC-/GC-MS and NMR) metabolomic approach to elucidate molecular mechanisms involved in tobacco (N. tabacum) cells responding to ergosterol elicitation. This work resulted in four articles in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals, including PLoS ONE and Molecular Plant Pathology. Fidele then completed his PhD degree in Biochemistry (summa cum laude) at the University of Johannesburg, in 2017. His PhD work consisted of using metabolomics approaches (complemented with gene expression analyses) to elucidate the biochemistry of sorghum-fungal interactions and the protective effects of rhizobacteria. His PhD work has led to several manuscripts (some already published and others submitted in peer-reviewed scientific journals). His work has also been presented at different local and international conferences, including the last three metabolomics international conferences (San Francisco–2015, Dublin–2016 and Brisbane–2017). In addition to his M.Sc. and PhD projects, Fidele has been involved in other metabolomics research projects in the Department of Biochemistry (at UJ). Some of these projects consist of metabolite structural elucidation. Fidele has attended different workshops and courses on metabolomics/metabolism such as the EMBO metabolomics workshop (UK, 2013) and metabolic modelling and pathway analysis course (Wageningen University, Netherlands, 2014). He is also involved in metabolomics workshops in South Africa as an organizer and a trainer: e.g. SIMCA-based data analysis workshop in 2015 (with Imperial college team: Ruey Leng Loo and Kimhofer Torben), Metabolomics workshops in March 2016 and 2017 (with Drs. Reza Salek, Karl Burgess, Fabien Jourdan, Justin van Hooft and Naomi Rankin). Fidele is an active member of the International Metabolomics Society: (i) a committee member and secretary of the Early-career members Network (EMN) till end of September 2017; (ii) a member of the Society Strategy Task group; and (iii) member of the International Organizing Committee (IOC) for the Metabolomics Conference 2017. In addition to being a member of the Metabolomics Society, Fidele is also a member of SA scientific societies (such as ChromSA, SAAMS and SASBMB) and a lifetime member of the Golden Key International Honour Society (since 2007).

Research Interest

Biochemistry