 Dr Arshad Mather
Senior Manager Research Email: MatherA@arc.agric.za
Phone: +27 (0)12 529 9236
External link:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/Dr-Arshad-Mather Dr Arshad Mather is the Senior Manager Research (SMR) at the ARC Biotechnology Platform. A biochemist with over two decades of experience, his expertise spans biotechnology, genomics, bioinformatics, vaccine development, diagnostics, biosafety, and research leadership. He has led nationally and internationally funded projects on transboundary animal diseases, authored numerous scientific publications, and contributed to patented livestock vaccine technologies. Dr Mather is passionate about leveraging advanced biotechnology to strengthen animal health, food security, and research excellence in South Africa and across the continent.
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 Lerato Mpye
Project Co-coordinator ARC-BTP
Email:
MpyeL@arc.agric.za
Phone: +27 (0)12 529 9121
Mrs Mpye has been coordinating ARC-BTP projects since 2011. She administrates HR, finance and BTP students’ related matters.
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Dr Dirk Swanevelder
Specialist Researcher: Genomics
Email: SwanevelderD@arc.agric.za
Phone: +27 (0)12 529 9472
Dr Swanevelder works on various agricultural projects in the fields of molecular breeding, phenomics, genomics and genetic engineering. His research focusses on the development of high throughput identification technologies for pests and microbes (one health), crop genome engineering for traits, like disease resistance, and functional genomics of industrial and agricultural important microbes and their application. He is also instrumental in rolling out new technologies within the unit. |
Dr Khanyisile Hadebe
Senior Researcher
Email:
MdladlaK@arc.agric.za
Phone: +27 (0)12 529 9227
External Link:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ktzS2pcAAAAJ&hl=en
Dr. Khanyisile Hadebe (Mdladla) is a Senior Researcher: Genomics. Her research interests are characterizing biodiversity and the use of population and landscape genomics to investigate signatures of selection and adaptation in indigenous Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR). She is involved in developing sustainable improvement and conservation strategies, such as genomics-assisted community-based breeding programs (CBBP) to assist small scale rural farmers optimize production and environmental fitness of their livestock to help farmers overcome future challenges of climate change. She has published as lead author in Heredity, Animal Genetics, Small Ruminant Research, Tropical Animal Health and Production and Preventive Veterinary Medicine. |
 Dr Quentin C. Santana
Senior Researcher in Bioinformatics Email: SantanaQ@arc.agric.za
Phone: +27 (0)12 529 9121
Google Scholar Link: https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?user=grg6tKMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Dr Santana is a Senior Researcher in Bioinformatics. Dr Santana's research focuses on genomics and evolution, with a specialised interest in fungal plant pathogens. His work leverages bioinformatic frameworks to unravel the evolutionary mechanisms driving pathogen adaptation and host-pathogen interactions. His other areas of knowledge include phylogenomics, population genomics, transcriptomics and metabarcoding/metagenomics. |
 Dr Bulelani Sizani
Senior Researcher: Plant Genomics
Email: SizaniB@arc.agric.za
Phone: +27 (0)12 529 9121
External link:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&tzom=-120&user=gEYrt-EAAAAJ
Dr. Bulelani Sizani's research focuses on plant natural resistance to pathogens (primarily viruses), plant genomics, and the Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues (ELSI) related to plant genomics and genome editing. His work involves the use of advanced microscopy techniques for 3D imaging of plant cells, structures, and whole tissues. |
 Dr Amanda Beylefeld
Researcher: Bioinformatics Email: beylefelda@arc.agric.za
Phone: +27 (0)12 529 9352
External link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=ONv7lIEAAAAJ
Dr. Beylefeld's research focuses on bacterial genomics, with a specialised interest in bacterial identification, comparative genomics, and antimicrobial resistance. Her current projects apply high‑throughput sequencing to diverse biological systems, including bacteria, aphids, and Phytophthora. She also develops bioinformatic workflows to support a range of applications, enabling reproducible and efficient analysis of complex genomic datasets. Her other areas of expertise include viral identification, RNA‑seq bioinformatic analysis, microbial genomics, comparative analyses, and workflow optimisation for large‑scale sequencing studies. |
