I completed my BSc degree at the University of Western Cape in 1995 with a major in Biochemistry and Physiology. My interest in intracellular signaling prompted me to do an Honours degree in Medical Biochemistry in 1996 at the University of Cape Town. My honours research project focused on generating an epitope-tagged gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GnRHR) because no antibodies were available to detect or isolate the receptor. I continued with my MSc in the same laboratory, investigating the role of the intracellular C-terminal tail of the chicken GnRHR in intracellular signaling and desensitization of this receptor, compared to the mammalian GnRHR that lacks an intracellular tail.

In 2000 I joined the Diabetes Research Group of the Medical Research Council and worked on a project that focused on identifying novel genes that are required for the regeneration of rat pancreatic b-cells. After my introduction to insulin signaling and diabetes, I started a PhD in Medical Physiology at Stellenbosch University in 2003, investigating the molecular mechanisms whereby insulin protects the rat heart during ischemia. The aim of the research was to identify molecular targets that can be modulated in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction, during which cardiac damage is induced by ischemia and reperfusion. I completed my PhD in the beginning of 2008 with a very controversial finding with regards to the role of cyclic AMP (cAMP) in insulin-mediated cardioprotection. cAMP has always been associated with promoting cardiac damage during ischemia, yet we found that the protection afforded by insulin to the heart is dependent on cAMP. I continued to work on this project as a post doc in the same laboratory in 2008.

I have recently been appointed as a lecturer and researcher at Stellenbosch University in the Division of Medical Physiology and am continuing with cardiovascular research in the setting of ischemia/reperfusion. Given the controversial results that we obtained with regards to the cardioprotective role of cAMP, my research will focus on investigating the intracellular trafficking of cAMP during ischemia in a cardiomyocyte cell model. Fluorescent probes that bind cAMP will be used to monitor cAMP trafficking, while RNA silencing will be used to identify proteins that regulate the intracellular trafficking of cAMP during cardioprotection and damage.