Lyn-marié Birkholtz
Professor
Department of Genomic Research Institute
University of Pretoria
South Africa
Biography
Lyn-Marie Birkholtz obtained a BSc in Genetics, Human Physiology and Biochemistry, and a BSc (Hons) and MSc in Biochemistry cum laude at the University of Pretoria. Her PhD training was jointly performed in South African and at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Germany. After a postdoctoral fellowship, she joined the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Pretoria. Prof Birkholtz has published numerous research articles, invited review articles and book chapters and has been awarded several Exceptional Young Scientists awards. Lyn-Marie Birkholtz heads the Malaria Parasite Molecular Laboratory (M2pl), with a wide interest in the physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology of malaria parasites. Much of her work is aimed at the design of novel antimalarial chemotherapeutics. Several projects involve genomics and functional genomics approaches in antimalarial drug discovery, including analyses of the functional consequences of treating malaria parasites in vitro with potential novel antimalarial drugs, genomic mapping of cell cycle regulators of malaria parasites and genomic analysis of transmittable forms of malaria parasites.
Research Interest
Her research interest lies in Biochemistry
Publications
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Becker JV, Mtwisha L, Crampton BG, Stoychev S, van Brummelen AC, Reeksting S, Louw AI, Birkholtz LM, Mancama DT. Plasmodium falciparum spermidine synthase inhibition results in unique perturbation-specific effects observed on transcript, protein and metabolite levels. BMC genomics. 2010 Apr 12;11(1):235.
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Verlinden BK, Niemand J, Snyman J, Sharma SK, Beattie RJ, Woster PM, Birkholtz LM. Discovery of novel alkylated (bis) urea and (bis) thiourea polyamine analogues with potent antimalarial activities. Journal of medicinal chemistry. 2011 Sep 14;54(19):6624-33.
