Prof. Mervin Meyer

Prof. Mervin Meyer (University of the Western Cape, Department of Biotechnology)

Prof Meyer holds a PhD in Biochemistry. After completing his PhD, he was awarded the South African National Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship for Studies Abroad. He completed 2 years postdoctoral training at the National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Sciences at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He returned to South Africa in 2006 to start a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Biotechnology at the UWC, for which he was awarded the South African Medical Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship and the South African National Research Foundation Innovation Fund Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2007 he was awarded the South African Medical Research Council Career Award and was employed in the Department of Biotechnology at the UWC as a Senior Lecturer. In 2010 he was appointed as the Director of the Biolabels Unit of the South African Department of Science and Technology/Mintek Nanotechnology Innovation Centre (DST/Mintek NIC). He is currently a Full Professor in the Department of Biotechnology.

Prof Meyer’s research interest involves the development of nanostructured materials for applications in therapeutics and diagnosis, focussing on diseases that significantly contribute to South Africa’s disease burden. Applications in therapeutics entail the development of nanotherapeutics to achieve precision medicine by the targeted removal of diseased cells through the induction of apoptosis.  Applications in diagnostics entail the identification of suitable disease biomarkers and the development of nanoparticles functionalized with biomolecules (peptides or aptamers) that can facilitate specific biomolecular recognition of such biomarkers and the subsequent development of rapid diagnostic systems.