Marlo Möller

I am a human geneticist and my primary research focus since 2004 is on finding the genetic underpinnings of tuberculosis (TB). After completing my PhD at Stellenbosch University in 2007 I held two postdoctoral fellowship positions both involving human genetic susceptibility to TB. In 2014 I received a prestigious SA-NRF Research Career Advancement Fellowship to investigate an extreme form of TB susceptibility, namely tuberculous meningitis. I was given a Y-rating by the SA-NRF. I am involved in several host genetic susceptibility to TB projects, some in our department and some together with international collaborators. I am also a member of PIDDGEN, a research group that aims to profile the genetic causes of primary immunodeficiencies (PID) in South Africans, with a particular focus on the predisposition to TB. We have identified several novel PID-causing mutations in South Africans using exome sequencing. More recently I have been involved with fieldwork and the recruitment of study participants from rural areas in South Africa to inform our TB genetics work. During recent years I have acquired experience in working with “big data” (from microarray genotyping as well as next generation sequencing).