Meet biofarming | Ed Rybicki | TEDxCapeTown, Published on Sep 9, 2014
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Ed Rybicki, Director of The Biopharming Research Unit (The BRU), University of Cape Town, explores new ways to make pharmaceuticals inexpensive and asks: what if we could do it right here in Cape Town?
Ed has been at University of Cape Town since he came to Cape Town on holiday in 1974. He obtained a BSc in Chemistry and Microbiology in 1976, an Hons in Virology in 1977, an MSc in Virology in 1979, and a PhD in the same discipline in 1984. He later became a
lecturer in Virology in 1981 and rose through the ranks to become a Professor in
Microbiology (in January 2003). In addition, he is a Founder Member of the Institute of
Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
(IIDMM) based in the Health Sciences Faculty.
Integrating bioprocesses | Sue Harrison | TEDxCapeTown, Published on Aug 26, 2012
Sue Harrison (Bioprocess Engineer), Centre of Bioprocess Engineering Research (CeBER), University of Cape Town.
Sharing the potential for using integrated bioprocesses for conversion of a range of byproducts to commodity products, value added products and benign wastes using the underlying concepts of industrial ecology.
Sue Harrison holds undergraduate degrees in microbiology (BSc. Hons) and chemistry (BSc) from the University of Cape Town and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University. She worked as a research scientist in the R&DD department of AECI Ltd in
Johannesburg for three years. In 1991, she joined the academic staff of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. Her research in bioprocess engineering spans bacterial, fungal, archael and algal bioprocesses with application inbiohydrometallurgy, AMD prevention, maximizing resource productivity, bioenergy products, biocommodities from wastes, fine chemicals, neutraceuticals and expression of niche peptides and proteins. Through these she focuses on microbial dynamics, biokinetics, biological stress responses and process integration. She has a strong interest on quantifying environmental burden associated with processes with the view to its minimisation. She collaborates actively with researchers at the universities of Mumbai, Duisberg-Essen, Technical University Berlin, Cambridge University and Imperial College London and with industrial partners in South Africa and abroad.
