Miss Angelica Marsberg

MSc Student
Tree Protection Co-operative Programme

Research Interests

 After I completed my undergraduate degree in Human Genetics at the University of Pretoria, I left to do my BSc (Hons) in Medical Sciences at the University of Stellenbosch under the supervision of Dr Soraya Bardien.  There my project focussed on Parkinsons Disease and the detection of new mutations in the LRRK2 gene in the South African population using Sanger sequencing and High Resolution Melt analysis.  In the same year I contributed to a research article published by my supervisor.

 I am currently busy with my Masters degree.  My project is focussed on characterising the distribution of fungal endophytes found to be associated with a native South African tree, namely Syzygium cordatum.  No studies have been done on the endophytes of this tree, an exception is Botryosphaeria  species.  It is important to look at these endophytes as many of them are latent pathogens that may eventually cause disease.  Syzygium and Eucalyptus trees also belong to the same family and therefore diseases may jump between hosts.  One important disease causing fungus is Mycosphaerella, and is found associated with both trees.  The latter part of my project will therefore focus on the systematics of this group of fungi.

Other FABI Activities

In 2010 I became part of the FABI Social Club and in 2011 became the Chairperson for the 2011/2012 period.  The SC is responsible for organising FABI events such as our annual SPOOF, Spring Tea and Year End Function.  The SC also organises community service events and this year (2011) we held a "Snug-as-a-Bug" blanket drive where we collected over 100 blankets and distributed it to varous organisations.  In the pipeline is also a "Paws-and-Claws" project to help our less fortunate furry friends.