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Prof Alexander (Zander) Myburg is researcher and a member of the lecturing staff of the Department of Genetics at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He obtained his PhD in Genetics and Forestry at the North Carolina State University in the USA in 2001. He joined UP as a lecturer in 2001 and is currently an associate professor. He directs the Wood and Fibre Molecular Genetics Programme, a joint research and development venture between the University of Pretoria, Sappi Forest Products and Mondi Business Paper South Africa. He is also the coordinator of the International Eucalyptus Genome Network (EUCAGEN). Prof Myburg was recently awarded the prestigious National Research Foundation (NRF) President's Award, for outstanding young researchers.
His research interests lie in the molecular genetics of plantation forest tree species, particularly the genetic control of wood formation, and in the domestication and genetic improvement of forest trees. Interspecific hybridisation and interspecific differentiation are also important fields of interest since hybridization is used extensively as a tool for the genetic improvement of Eucalyptus tree species, which form the basis of the South African plantation forestry industry.
His research programme focuses on the discovery and molecular genetic analysis of genes involved in wood and fibre development. This effort involves a combination of approaches such as high-throughput transcript profiling (cDNA-AFLP and microarray analysis) in forest trees, allelic discovery (SNP marker development) and association genetic analysis of wood and fibre genes in forest tree populations, and genetic dissection (QTL mapping) of interspecific differences in wood, growth and fitness properties in Eucalyptus tree species. Recent breakthroughs include the isolation and characterization of the cellulose synthase (CesA) gene family in Eucalyptus trees (Ranik et al 2006).
Prof Zander Myburg,
Tel: +27 12 420 4945,
Fax: +27 12 420 3947
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