Main disciplines: Molecular and cellular biology of microorganisms and plants; Functional genomics, Biotechnology

General themes: Plant-pathogen interactions; Molecular and metabolite profiling (omics) of plants; Tissue culture, transformation and regeneration technology; Biotic and abiotic stress of plants;

Specialised themes: Grapevine Transformation; Grapevine Biology; Grapevine-Environment Interactions; Fruit Ripening; Model vineyards and Field-omics, Genotype x Environment x Management Interactions; Sensors and robotics for vineyards.

Prof Melané Vivier is Professor in the South African Grape and Wine Research Institute (SAGWRI) and Department of Viticulture and Oenology of Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She is program leader of the Grapevine Molecular Biology and Biotechnology group and interim director of SAGWRI. Her research group focuses on integrative research, where the process under study is evaluated as a system. The methodological core of the research is molecular and metabolite profiling of the biological systems under study and are being applied to the following two themes: (i) Interactome profiling of the grapevine-pathogen interaction and (ii) Molecular and metabolite profiling of grapevines in vineyard settings (“FieldOmics”) to understand the genotype X environment interactions.

Office: JH Neethling Building, Room 2014C