I did my honours at FABI investigating a specific chromosomal abnormality between Fusarium species. After a brief yearlong siesta, I returned to FABI to continue my studies further with a masters under the supervision of my previous honours supervisor; the awesome Dr. Lieschen de Vos.

Current detection of pathogens on food crops is done, mostly, by culturing and morphological identification of pathogenic species. My MSc. is focused on designing a more rapid identification method that does not require specialists to identify pathogens but rather uses genomic data and sequencing technology.

I would love to invent the next billion-dollar idea but working in a field of interest, like genetics, and working on solving real world problems practically makes me happy. Food security now and in the future will always be a problem. Organizations like FABI and their partners are leading the way and setting the standards for how to address current and future problems we will face as a species.