Keynote Speakers

Ben Davis - Organic
(Oxford University, UK)
Ben Davis obtained his B.A. (1993) and D.Phil. (1996) degrees from the University of Oxford. During this time he learned the beauty of carbohydrate chemistry under the supervision of Professor George Fleet. He then spent 2 years as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Bryan Jones at the University of Toronto, exploring protein chemistry and biocatalysis. In 1998 he returned to the U.K. to take up a lectureship at the University of Durham. In the autumn of 2001 he moved to the Dyson Perrins Laboratory, University of Oxford and received a fellowship at Pembroke College, Oxford. His group’s research centres on chemical biology with an emphasis on carbohydrates and proteins. In particular, the group’s interests encompass synthesis and methodology, inhibitor design, protein engineering, drug delivery,molecular modeling, molecular biology, and glycoscience.

Hon Lam - Organic
(University of Edinburgh, UK)
Hon Wai Lam was born in Harrow, England in 1976, and grew up in northwest London. Hon obtained his PhD in 2001 from the University of Nottingham working under the direction of Gerald Pattenden. In January 2002, Hon moved to Harvard University as a GlaxoSmithKline Postdoctoral Fellow to work with David A. Evans on asymmetric catalysis. In October 2003, Hon joined the School of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh as a Lecturer, where his group’s research interests are based around the development of new synthetic methodology, enantioselective catalysis, and natural product synthesis. The first Ph.D. students entered the group in September 2004. Hon was promoted to the position of Senior Lecturer in 2009.

Jo Michael - Organic
(University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa)
Born and educated in South Africa, Jo Michael received his PhD in 1975 from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He spent the following two years as a post-doctoral research fellow at Cambridge University before returning to his alma mater in 1978 as a lecturer. After progressing through the ranks, he was appointed to the Chair of Organic Chemistry in 1994. In the intervening years he enjoyed sabbatical periods at the University of California, Berkeley (1984) and the University of Nottingham (1991-1992). His research interests are in synthetic methodology and the synthesis of natural products, especially alkaloids. He was appointed as Head of the School of Chemistry at the University of the Witwatersrand in January 2008.

Chris Parkinson - Organic
(CSIR, South Africa)
Chris Parkinson has more than 20 years of experience in the chemistry field as an academic and also as chief research scientist in the AECI research and development department before joining the CSIR in 1999. Currently, Chris leads the Discovery Chemistry research group at the CSIR. Examples of projects his group is working on are: application of kinase inhibitors as agents against tuberculosis, the design of novel peroxides and quinolines active against the malaria parasite, agents that inhibit reverse transcriptase in HIV and applications of slow release formulations. He was awarded a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Sydney in 1990 before embarking on a post doctorate with Professor Tony Barrett at Colorado State University, US and Imperial College in the UK.

David Rees - Organic
(Astex, UK)
David Rees joined Astex in January 2003 and is Senior VP Medicinal Chemistry. Astex have pioneered fragment based drug discovery and have progressed several compounds from their internal research into clinical trials in cancer patients. Prior to Astex, he had 19 years experience as a medicinal chemist in the pharmaceutical industry, working with Parke-Davis, Organon and, most recently, AstraZeneca where he held the position of Director of the Medicinal Chemistry Department with some 140 staff at the research and development laboratories in Mölndal, Sweden. David is a co-recipient of the Royal Society of Chemistry Malcolm Campbell Memorial Prize 2007 for the discovery of the anaesthesia drug sugammadex whilst at Organon. Sugammadex (Bridion) received regulatory approval in Europe in July 2008. He is a co-author of over 80 publications and patents and has served as an honorary Professor at Glasgow University. He is President-elect for the RSC Organic Division Executive.

Ross Robinson - Organic
(University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa)
Professor Ross Robsinson completed his PhD in the laboratories of Professor Perry Kaye at Rhodes University in 1998. He then joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal as a lecturer in organic chemistry and is currently an Associate Professor. Ross has also spent a sabbatical with Professor Richard Taylor at York University. His research interests lie in the development of synthetic strategies towards the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds with medicinal potential as well as the kinetic and mechanistic studies of selected reactions.

Erick Strauss - Organic
(Stellenbosch University,South Africa)
Prof Erick Strauss leads a research group in Chemical Biology, an interdisciplinary field at the interface of chemistry and biology. His group uses and exploits enzymes – especially those involved in the biosynthesis of the ubiquitous and essential metabolic cofactor Coenzyme A (CoA) – for drug design and development and biocatalysis. He has a special interest in the development of new antibacterials, and treatments of so-called ‘neglected diseases’ such as tuberculosis, malaria and human sleeping sickness. Erick, born and raised in Pretoria, received his PhD in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Cornell University (USA) in 2003. He returned to South Africa in the same year as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science at Stellenbosch University. He accepted a position as associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry, also at Stellenbosch University, in 2008.

Bette Davidowitz – Chemical education
(University of Cape Town, South Africa)
Bette Davidowitz obtained her PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Cape Town in 1984. She worked as a scientific officer in the Chemistry Department at UCT for many years and was responsible for running the senior undergraduate laboratories. During this time she developed an interest in chemistry education and has been actively involved in this research domain since 1998. In 2000 she was appointed to a lectureship in chemistry where her main duties are teaching under-prepared students registered for the academic development course. Her research focuses on improving teaching and learning in chemistry in the classroom and the laboratory with a particular interest in using submicrosopic diagrams as a tool for both teaching and assessment. In 2004 she was the recipient of a Distinguished Teacher Award at UCT as well as the South African Chemical Institute Education medal.  Bette was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2007 and was recently awarded a C2 rating by the National Research Foundation.

Marietjie Potgieter – Chemical education
(University of Pretoria, South Africa)
Marietjie Potgieter obtained a PhD under the direction of Professor Kenneth Rinehart Jr at the University of Illinois, USA in 1983. Her research focused on the biosynthesis of natural products. She returned to South Africa to work in the Natural Products division of the NCRL, CSIR under Professor Piet Steyn. After joining the chemistry department of the University of Pretoria in 2001 as a senior lecturer her research focus shifted to tertiary chemical education; specifically, assessment of preparedness for first-year chemistry, prediction of students at risk of failing first courses in chemistry, over-confidence as a potential risk factor and transfer of knowledge and understanding across the mathematics-chemistry interface. She received an international fellowship of AAUW (American Association of University Women) in 1981 and the RC Fuson merit award for research in organic chemistry (University of Illinois, 1983). She was the recipient of the SACI Chemical Education medal in 2008, was L-rated by the NRF in 2009 and was promoted to Associate Professor within the chemistry department in 2010.

Ravin Narain - Inorganic
(University of Alberta, USA)
Ravin Narain’s research focuses on polymer chemistry, biomaterials and nanotechnology.  He has established an active research program on the synthesis, characterization and applications of polymeric materials and surface coated metal nanoparticles for biomedical applications.

Susan Bourne - Inorganic
(University of Cape Town, RSA)
Her academic specialisation is in the field of supramolecular chemistry which, unlike traditional chemistry, focuses on the weaker and reversible non-covalent interactions between molecules. These allow the construction of softer materials, able to respond to their environment.

Tim Egan - Inorganic
(University of Cape Town, RSA)
Tim Egan’s research lies in the field of bioinorganic chemistry. His current work is centred on the mechanism of malaria pigment (haemozoin) formation and the mechanism of action of quinoline and related antimalarial drugs. This information is being used to develop principles for the design of new antimalarials.

Sophi Elmroth - Inorganic
(Lund University, Sweden)
At present, she is particularly interested in exploring the influence of drug interference on non-coding RNA function, including effects on si- and miRNA regulated protein synthesis. A variety of biochemical and biophysical methods are employed for these studies, such as luciferase based expression systems, gel sequencing- and thermal melting studies, and mass-spectrometry analysis.

Gerdus Kemp - Inorganic
(PET labs Pharmaceuticals, South Africa)
Gerdus Kemp was born in South Africa. He did a P.hD (2004)in chemistry at the Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has a special interest in the production and synthesis of PET radiopharmaceuticals. Dr Kemp is currently synthesis of PET radiopharmaceuticals. Dr Kemp is currently
the operations manager at PET labs Pharmaceuticals.

Andre Roodt - Inorganic
(University of the Free state, RSA)
His interests include reaction mechanisms of chemical processes on early, middle and late transition metals using time resolved spectroscopy and solid state techniques. His research specifically focuses on industrial processes with regard to homogeneous catalytic model reactions, as well as medicinal agents.

Reinout Meijboom - Inorganic
(University of Johannesburg, RSA)
Amongst other projects Reinout’s interest is in the synthesis and characterization of extremely well-defined nanoparticles (clusters) to be used as starting materials for shape-selective catalysts. Reinout was awarded the South African Chemical Society's Raikes medal in 2009.

Len J. Barbour - Inorganic
(University of Stellenbosch, RSA)
Len’s main research interest lies in Crystal Engineering and the design of new functional materials. Of particular interest is the encapsulation of small compounds by non-covalent molecular assemblies. This includes sorption of gases into lattice interstices as well as the capture of substrates in molecular capsules or tubules assembled by means of hydrogen bonding or amphiphilic interactions.

Helgard Raubenheimer - Inorganic
(University of Stellenbosch, RSA)
His interest is in Organometallic compounds, their synthesis and template reactions. Presently a main interest of his is in the chemistry  of gold and the reactivity of complexes with various types of carbene ligands. of complexes with various types of carbene ligands.

Kenneth Ozoemena - Inorganic
(CSIR, RSA)
Kenny focuses mainly on nano-structured materials, self-assembled monolayers and redox-active N4-macrocyclic metal complexes with a view to establishing their potential applications in electrocatalysis, chemo- and biosensing, and in the development of electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems, and dye sensitised solar cells.

Ponnadurai Ramasami – Computational
(University of Mauritius, Mauritius)
Ponnadurai Ramasami received his PhD in Physical Chemistry in 1996 from the University of Delhi, India. In 2000, he joined the University of Mauritius as a lecturer and currently he is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Department of Chemistry of the same University. He developed Computational Chemistry at teaching and research levels. Since he joined the University of Mauritius, his research interest shifted to Computational Chemistry. He leads a research group with interests in four distinct areas namely: isolated novel molecules, global warming species, reaction mechanism and drug development.

Prof. Marek Biziuk, DSc, PhD - Analytical and Environmental
( Gdansk University of Technology, Poland)
Research: monitoring of organic and inorganic environmental pollution, biomonitoring using mosses and leaches, application of INAA in assessment of industrial impact on occupational exposure  and the adjacent environment, application of artificial neural network in analytical chemistry, fuzzy modeling of environmental systems. Member of  Committee of Analytical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences, President of Teaching of Analytical Chemistry Committee in Analytical Chemistry Division of Polish Academy of Sciences. Author or co-author of 150 papers, 20 books and 180 invited lecturers, communications and posters.

Andrew M Crouch - Analytical and Environmental
(University of the Witwatersrand)
My research interest is in the area of environmental electrochemistry and analytical method development. Recent work in the area of electrochemistry focus on the design and use of metal- and mixed metal oxide thin film materials as electrocatalysts for the electro-oxidation of refractory phenolic components. Various electrochemical techniques are used to probe the interfacial reactions on different metal oxide surfaces.

Isabelle Navizet – Computational
(University of the Witwatersrand, RSA)
Isabelle Navizet received her PhD in Physical Chemistry in 2004 from the University of Paris VI, France, for her research on the molecular modeling (MM) and analysis of mechanical properties of proteins. In September 2005, she joined the group of Prof Pavel Rosmus in University East-Paris Marne-la-Vallee as assistant professor and shifted her research to quantum mechanic (QM) on smaller systems. She moved to Beijing Normal University, China, in 2007 and since performs QMMM calculations to clarify the relationship between the structure of bio-luminescent systems and the color of the emitted light. She took a postdoc position in September 2010 at School of Chemistry of the University of the Witwatersrand, RSA.

Nelson Torto- Analytical
(Rhodes University, South Africa)
Nelson Torto graduated with his BSc (1992) from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UK), MSc in Analytical Chemistry (1995) from the University of Botswana and his PhD in Analytical Chemistry (1999) from the University of Lund (Sweden) under the supervision of Prof. Lo Gorton. Nelson’s research has always been focused on sample handling methodologies coupled to pressure or electrically driven separations with subsequent mass, electrochemical or spectrometric detection. In the early part, he developed in-situ sampling and sample clean-up devices based on microdialysis probes.  In July 2008, he moved from the University of Botswana to take up a position of Professor of Analytical Chemistry at Rhodes University. His current research focuses on the fabrication of tunable sorbents based on electrospun nanofibers for application to biological, biotechnological and environmental samples.

Charlotta Turner- Analytical
(Lund University, Sweden)
Charlotta Turner has a master degree in Chemistry from 1996 at Lund University, and a doctoral degree in Analytical Chemistry from the same university, in 2001. Turner went for a postdoc sejour at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Berkeley, CA, USA (2001-2004), after which she returned to Sweden, to Uppsala University. In 2007, Turner obtained a junior research position from the Swedish Research Council for her research on particle formation by supercritical fluid technology, and since then, she has brought in grants worth 45 MSEK in research areas of analytical chemistry especially focused on pressurized fluid extraction, material design by supercritical fluid technology and sustainable development. Since December 2009, Turner is holding a lecturer position at Lund University in Sweden, and from January 2011, a senior research position funded by the Swedish Research Council for her research on fundamentals of subcritical water extraction technology. For more information about Turner´s Green Technology Group at Lund University, please visit the web site www.organic.lu.se/People/Green_Technology_Group.

Viness Pillay
(Wits University, South Africa)
Professor Viness Pillay, a Fulbright Scholar, is a South African NRF Research Chair in Pharmaceutical Biomaterials and Polymer-Engineered Drug Delivery Technologies hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand, funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and administered by the National Research Foundation (NRF) at the Tier 1 Level.  He is also a Personal Professor of Pharmaceutics, Head of Pharmaceutics and Director of Pharmaceutics and Contract Research at the University of the Witwatersrand, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, South Africa. Funded from the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) of South Africa (formerly known as BioPAD), as well as other leading grant funding institutions, Prof. Pillay is the Director of the Wits Drug Delivery Platform, being the only Platform in its domain in the country. Recently, Prof. Pillay was designated as the Institutional Director of the Wits Hub of the National Medical Devices Innovation Platform (NMDIP), an initiative of the Medical Research Council (MRC) of South Africa. He is also a member of several prestigious academic associations, some of which include the American Chemical Society (USA), American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (USA), New York Academy of Science (USA), Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences (SA) and the Pharmaceutical Society (SA).

Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Iden is the spokesman of BASF for Nanotechnology.
He received his degree in chemistry from the Julius-Maximilian University in Wuerzburg in 1977 and his PhD in Chemistry from Wuerzburg University in 1981.He joined BASF's Colorants Laboratory as a Research Scientist in 1981, then he became the Head of Computational Chemistry in BASF's Main Laboratory and in 1987 the Assistant to the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors. In 1991 he became the Head of Colorants Research. And since 1996 he was responsible as the Head of Pigment Research for the three sites of BASF in Ludwigshafen, Stuttgart and Rensellaer NY. Since 1999 he is the head of Physics Research for BASF Group and since 2002 the Spokesman of BASF for Nanotechnology.
For a couple of years he is giving lectures in organic chemistry at the University of Duesseldorf; in 2004 he became Honorary Professor at the University of Duesseldorf. Further he is a Executive Board Member of the Nanotechnology Industry Association (NIA) in Brussels, Belgium, as well as the Co Chair of the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry, Brussels, and member of NanoBusiness Alliance Advisory Board. Furthermore he is the Chairman of the Board of the Förderverein Süddeutsches Kunststoffzentrum (Southern German Plastics Centre), Würzburg.In 2008 he was elected Member of the German Academy of Sciences, acatech.Since August 2010 he is operating as Senior Consultant.

Dr. D. Vanoppen holds an Engineering Degree in Chemical and Agricultural Engineering and a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) in Belgium.After working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Chemical Engineering department at the University of Cape Town, in 1998 he joined BASF’s Catalysts Research Department in Ludwigshafen, Germany.He has been working for BASF in assignments in production facilities in Antwerp, Belgium, Nanjing, China and Ludwigshafen, Germany. In January 2008 he joined BASF South Africa (Pty) Ltd as the technical manager of the catalytic converter production site in Port Elizabeth.