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Prof Abraham (Braam) Louw obtained a DSc (Agric) in Biochemistry from the University of Pretoria, South Africa (1972). He joined the Department of Biochemistry at the University in 1985 first as senior lecturer, and as full professor in 1994. Prior to this he was a research associate at the Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York (1968-1971), investigating cholesterol regulatory mechanisms and a Specialist Scientist at the CSIR in South Africa, investigating the structure-activity relationships of snake venom cardiotoxins. He spent two Sabbaticals, one at Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (1993-1994) and another at the University of Manchester Institute for Science and Technology (UMIST), Manchester, UK (2001). He retired in 2006 but is continuing his malaria research activities at the University of Pretoria on a contract basis.
He has been Head of the malaria research group in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Pretoria since 1997, focussing mainly on the structure-activity properties of selected malaria parasite proteins to identify parasite-specific properties useful for therapeutic intervention strategies. The molecular biology, bioinformatics and protein structural modelling facilities of the Department of Biochemistry were initiated and established in the malaria research programme. The structural modelling research programme was selected in 2003 by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in South Africa for its DST-appointed Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Bioinformatics Network (NBN) as a strong focus area of the University and recommended for DST funding.
He is a founder member of the SA Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1973), the Federation of African Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1996) and the South African Malaria initiative (SAMI; 2005) and served in various positions in the executive committees of the SASBMB (Vice-President and President: 1995-2000), the University of Pretoria Bioinformatics and Computational Unit (BCBU) and the steering committee of SAMI. He has acted as peer-reviewer of manuscripts submitted to several leading journals and grant applications to the e.g. Wellcome Trust, Science Foundation Ireland, etc. He has successfully supervised/co-supervised the completion of the research studies of 8 PhD and 25 MSc students and is currently supervising the research studies of another 7 PhD and 4 MSc students.
Prof Braam Louw,
Tel: +27 12 420 2480,
Fax: +27 12 362-5302
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