TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. TED^x is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. The Cape Town event is called TED^xCapeTown. Here are some recent talks by SASM members at TED^xCapeTown.

If you know of other SASM members participating at TED^x events in the rest of South Africa, please forward the links to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.so that we can highlight these achievements on SASM's blog.

We would like to extend an open invitation to all SASM members to make contributions to our blog. Let's embark on a crowd-sourcing exercise for new content, if you like!  All that is required for blog articles is a one pager (1 X A4) with sound scientific writing and some eye-catching photographs or graphics. The content could be “almost anything” microbiology-related, for example:

Interested applicants should send a letter of motivation, CV, certified copy of highest degree, and the contact details of three references to:

Prof Marla Trindade (Tuffin), Acting Director of IMBM, UWC.
Website: www.imbm.co.za
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Application closing date: 25 September 2014.
Position available as of 1 November 2014.

Remember the Bela-Bela Forever Resorts Warmbaths and SASM2013 conference?

Here are the links to the presentations and images:

PowerPoint presentations (only viewable in Google Chrome browser)
Conference Photographs

The Craig Venter Institute built a synthetic bacterial genome, and George Church, Farren Isaacs and colleagues have engineered the E. coli genome using an innovative platform called MAGE and genome synthesis methods. Now the focus is on the first eukaryote, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This organism has 16 linear chromosomes and a relatively compact (~14Mb total; ~12 Mb nonredundant) and well-understood genome. The synthetic yeast genome can be used to answer a wide variety of profound questions about fundamental properties of chromosomes, genome organization, gene content, function of RNA splicing, the extent to which small RNAs play a role in yeast biology, the distinction between prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and questions relating to genome structure and evolution. The availability of a fully synthetic genome will allow direct testing of evolutionary questions not otherwise approachable. The eventual “synthetic yeast” being designed and refined could eventually play an important practical role. Yeasts, and S. cerevisiae in particular, are preeminent organisms for industrial fermentations, with a wide variety of practical uses including ethanol production from agricultural products and by-products.

Two upcoming ASM virtual scientific lecture events by Dr. Harriet Robinson (GeoVax, Inc.) and Dr. Valerie Mizrahi (UCT). RSVP by 1 August: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Nine positions available at Kapa Biosystems. Click on the link below:

Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, UFS
Professor and Academic Department Head - Ref.: Natland1407-027

Duties and responsibilities:

• Teaching and learning of Microbiology or Biochemistry
• Conduct research and provide research supervision.
• Study guidance and supervision of masters and PhD-students.
• Involved in community service.

FACULTY OF NATURAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF PLANT AND CROP SCIENCES
PROFESSOR AND HEAD (ONE POST)
Reference number: 21608

In pursuit of the ideals of excellence and diversity, the University of Pretoria wishes to invite applications for the above vacancy.
The University of Pretoria's commitment to quality makes us one of the top research Universities in the country and gives us a competitive advantage in international science and technology development.

The Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences is one of the most diverse science faculties on the African continent. The Faculty hosts undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the broad knowledge fields of Agricultural, Biological, Mathematical and Physical Sciences and our curricula are characterised for its breadth and depth in its offerings. The Faculty is recognised by the ISI Web of Knowledge field rankings in the Plant and Animal Sciences (including Forestry), Environment  and Ecology and Agriculture.

One of the main goals of the UP 2025 Strategic Plan is the creation and enhancement of solid multidisciplinary research programmes based on the current disciplinary strengths and research capacity. Progress in addressing a number of the global challenges such as food security, climate change, environmental sustainability, ecology and biodiversity is closely linked to the University of Pretoria’s knowledge and understanding of the basic and applied plant sciences. To enhance the current strengths and opportunities, a more coherent effort towards addressing the global challenges related to the plant domain was needed. The Faculty has recently established the formation of a new School of Plant and Crop Sciences through which we will consolidate all our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the plant and applied plant sciences.

This consolidation process will enable the University to align strategic research activities in basic plant science including molecular aspects with agriculture, biotechnology, ecology and biodiversity. A single academic home will enable the University to strengthen strategic international and local partnerships with industry and government which can attract major external funding streams for several of the critical knowledge fields. It will further contribute and strengthen existing centres of excellence, Institutional Research Themes and institutes and will enable the development of future research chairs of national relevance. Through these efforts it is believed that the strengths in the field of basic and applied plant sciences could be used to assist the University in harnessing its potential to make a difference in South Africa, Africa and the rest of the world.

The Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences invites applications for the position of Professor and Head of the School of Plant and Crop Science (HoS).

For application enquiries please contact: Prof. L. Korsten, Tel: +27 12 420 3295. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Application form can be found on the University website