Mamosa Ngcala

Position: PhD Student, Department Molecular and Cell Biology, UCT
Mamosa is a PhD student in Molecular Biology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Nicola Illing, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Robert Ingle and Prof. Dr. Zoran Nikoloski. She holds a Masters degree in Plant Biotechnology with a specific background in crop abiotic stress and proteomics. Her current PhD project focuses on analysing desiccation response in three resurrection Xerophyta adult plants and seedlings: Xerophyta elegans, Xerophyta schlechteri and Xerophyta humilis, during early and late stages of development. As part of her RESIST secondment, Mamosa will spend 12 months at the University of Potsdam, Germany, with Prof. Dr. Zoran Nikoloski and her primary objectives include performing lipid/metabolite and RNA-Sequencing Data analyses in hydrated and dehydrated Xerophyta species during two stages of seedling development. Moreover, she will also conduct ultrastructural analyses in Xerophyta seedlings to gain better understanding of the ultrastructure, with particular interest in chloroplast changes that occur during desiccation and rehydration at different time points.