Department of anaessthesia

Department of Human Biology

Research Report 2006

Head of Department: Professor Susan H. Kidson

Departmental Profile

The Department of Human Biology is located at two sites: Human Biology South in Newlands housing the division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine (ESSM), and Human Biology North in the anatomy building on medical campus, housing anatomy, biological anthropology, cell biology, physiology, neurosciences, biomedical engineering, health care technology management. The department’s research output has continued to steadily rise over the past 5 years, and in 2006, three more staff members became NRF rated scientists. The department was very proud to have two winners at this year’s National Science and Technology Foundation’s Awards. Professor Tim Noakes was honoured with the “Over a Lifetime Award” for his outstanding contribution to exercise science and sports medicine which has revolutionised scientific thinking in this field. Dr Tania Douglas earned the “Distinguished Young Black Researcher Award” for her innovative research developing instruments for the diagnosis of disease. HUB academics are playing an increasing role internationally. Tim Noakes was appointed visiting professor in the Division of Neuroscience and Biomedical Systems at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Professor Martin Schwellnus was voted second Vice-President of the International Federation of Sports Medicine and Professor Kit Vaughan was elected Fellow of the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering. Mladen Poluta has established a new collaboration with the Biomedical Engineering Department at Northwestern University (Chicago, USA) and was awarded the Visiting Eshbach Scholarship in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University. Alan Morris’ work on the 36,000 year old Hofmeyr skull was rewarded with publication in Science. HUB postgraduate students have also excelled. First prize for oral and poster presentations at the Annual Biomedical Sciences Research Day were awarded to Bruce Spottiswoode and Dheshnie Govender, respectively. Deshnie was also this year’s recipient of the SAASTA / Saturday Star Young Science Writer’s Competition and several students, including Amaal Abrahams, Huajian Teng, Fleur Howells were awarded UCT Research Associateships. Amaal Abrahams also received the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Young Scientist Award. Dheshnie Govender also won the best student award at the European Society for Pigment Cell Biology.

Departmental Statistics

Permanent and long-term contract staff

Professors (1 Discovery)	6
Associate Professors	5
Senior Lecturers (2 PGWC) (2 MRC)	16
Lecturers	7
Research Staff	6
Technical and Support Staff	24
Admin and Clerical Staff	8
Total	72

Students

Doctoral	41
Masters	43
M Phil	26
Honours	22
PG Diploma	4
Undergraduate	992
Total	1128

Research Fields and Staff

Professor Sue Kidson

Head of Department; developmental biology; melanocytes and hypopigmentary disorders; eye development and glaucoma

Professor Estelle V. Lambert

Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine (RUESSM): Physical activity epidemiology and chronic diseases of lifestyle; effect of ante-natal nutrition on subsequent health; integration of metabolism and neuro-endocrine control of fatigue during exercise, energy balance and obesity

Professor Timothy D. Noakes

Discovery Health Chair of Exercise and Sports Science and Director of UCT/MRC; RUESSM: A neural governor that prevents the development of myocardial ischaemia during maximal exercise; neural mechanisms that regulate fatigue during exercise; the aetiology, prevention and treatment of hyponatraemia during prolonged endurance exercise

Professor Vivienne Russell

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Professor Martin P. Schwellnus

RUESSM and MIRU: Epidemiology of sports injuries; biomechanical factors associated with sporting injuries

Professor Christopher L. Vaughan

Hyman Goldberg Professor, Director of MRC/UCT Medical Imaging Research Unit (MIRU); musculoskeletal biomechanics; theories of human gait; medical imaging

Associate Professor Wayne Derman

RUESSM: Skeletal muscle dysfunction in chronic disease; exercise training in chronic disease

Associate Professor Mike Lambert

RUESSM: Muscle damage; regeneration, overload, heart rate, anabolic steroids, human performance, ergogenic aids

Associate Professor Graham J. Louw

Human growth; medical curricula; skeletal analysis

Associate Professor Alan G. Morris

Human evolution; skeletal biology of earlier peoples in southern Africa; history of physical anthropology

Associate Professor Alan St Clair Gibson

RUESSM and MIRU: Neural mechanisms in fatigue; neural mechanisms in locomotion
Dr Rachel Alexander

Senior Lecturer; comparative morphology; medical education

Ms Elmi Badenhorst

Lecturer; medical education, underpreparedness and academic performance

Dr David A. Boonzaier

Senior Lecturer; rehabilitation technology

Dr Andrew Bosch

RUESSM: Senior Lecturer; muscle glycogen; fatigue; training; performance

Dr Malcolm Collins

RUESSM: Honorary Senior Lecturer; genetic contributions to sporting excellence; molecular mechanisms in training adaptations and in exercise-induced fatigue

Senior Scientist, MRC
Dr Tania Douglas

MIRU: Senior Lecturer; medical imaging

Dr Julia H. Goedecke

RUESSM: Senior Lecturer, MRC; obesity

Dr Geney Gunston

Lecturer; gross anatomy; clinical anatomy; medical education

Dr Lester John

MIRU: Lecturer and Software Specialist; medical imaging, arterial modelling

Dr Laurie Kellaway

Senior Lecturer; in vivo and in vitro visual cortical mechanisms

Dr Dirk M. Lang

Senior Lecturer; nervous system development; axon growth and regeneration

Dr Ernesta Meintjes

MIRU: Senior Lecturer and Research Officer, magnetic resonance imaging

Dr Edward Ojuka

Senior Lecturer; signalling mechanisms in exercise-induced mitochondrial biogenesis and GLUT4 expression in skeletal muscle

Mr Mladen A. Poluta

Senior Lecturer; Director: Healthcare Technology Management

Dr Sharon Prince

Lecturer; the role and regulation of the Tbox transcription factor, Tbx2, in the cell cycle and cancer

Dr David Querido

Senior Lecturer; physico-chemical estimation of postmortem interval

Dr Charles P. Slater

Senior Lecturer; interactive multimedia for anatomy teaching

Mr Stef Steiner

Lecturer; biomechanics

Dr Jacob Tsotetsi

Lecturer; cardiovascular physiology

Ms Liz van der Merwe

Senior Lecturer; cell biology; imaging techniques

Dr Wayne Viljoen

Lecturer; Course Convenor: BSc (Med) (Hons) (Biokinetics)

Dr Christopher M.R. Warton

Senior Lecturer; medical education and teaching materials

Dr Lindsay Weight

Senior Lecturer; physiology, medical education

Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr Lester Davids

Molecular and cellular biology; pigmentary disorders of the skin, vitiligo, hair follicle biology

Dr Cathi Draper

Social science aspects of physical activity as a means of health promotion and disease prevention

Dr Tracy Kolbe-Alexander

Physical activity and health epidemiology

Dr Julien Marchal

MIRU: X-ray imaging

Dr Barak Morgan

MIRU: psychophysiology

Dr Lisa Micklesfield

Bone health and physical activity through the different life stages

Dr Laurie Rauch

Brain research group, attentional processing, neurobiology of stress

Dr Alison V. September

Identifying the genetic risk factors contributing to Achilles tendon injuries or other over-use sports injuries

Dr Michele van Rooyen (Boddington)

Video game analysis and sports performance