I joined FABI in 2019 as a CPHB mentorship student in the second year of my undergraduate degree and continued with my honours in Microbiology in 2021, under the supervision of Prof Venter and Prof Steenkamp. During my honours I studied the diversity of Mesorhizobium strains associated with the indigenous South African legumes, Vachellia karroo and Lessertia diffusa. For my Masters, I continued my work on studying the diversity of rhizobia associated with various bush encroaching legumes that threaten the Savanna ecosystem of South Africa.

For my Ph.D. I am focusing on the evolution of various rhizobia at a species, genus and family level. I am also involved as a curator on the SeqCode registry, an alternative nomenclatural Code that enables genomes to serve as nomenclatural types. Besides my academic ventures, I am also involved in the CPHB-FABI mentorship program and other community outreach initiatives.