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 Dr Heidi de Wet,
PhD, Department of Chemical Pathology,
UCT Medical School: BSc (Hons) in
Biochemistry, Potchefstroom University
How did you end up studying
genetics? What and who inspired
you along the way?
My subjects in highschool were English,
afrikaans, maths, science, biology and
music. My maths and science marks were
quite poor in matric – I got an E for
maths HG and a D for Science HG!
I wanted to pursue a career in zoology
or veterinary science, and was allowed
to enrol in a zoology/botany-based BSc.
After one month of zoology, I realised
that I absolutely hated cutting up
specimens and spent most of my practicals
trying not to faint! So, for my second
year I tried something as bloodless as
possible – botany. I also did well enough
in Chemistry during my first year to
pursue it as a second year subject, and
took biochemistry (genetics) simply to
fill my curriculum up. What a lovely surprise!
I loved it! And never looked back.
After finishing my Honours course at
Potchefstroom I felt like a change and
applied for a MSc (which was upgraded
to a PhD) at UCT when I saw an advert
for a project at their medical school.
What do you love best about
what you do?
I’m currently working as a postdoctoral
research fellow at Tygerberg Medical
School, doing research on bone growth
and how bone cells decide to grow – in
other words, what genes are up-or downregulated
– in response to cortisone
treatment.
Doing research is great because you
really have to stay on your toes the
whole time – it’s a thinking game,
trying to tease answers out of a rather
unwilling Mother Nature. And, of course,
you feel like you are making a difference
by contributing something to the
understanding of how things work.
What would you say is frustrating
about your field of study?
Being a research scientist involves a lot
of donkey work – repeating assays over
and over again, because it is, well you
know, RE-search! Doing something that
no-one has done before takes a lot of
time, patience and guesswork.
For every positive result there are
usually 50 negatives.
What was the title of your
PhD? Why did you choose your
specialty?
"The Nucleotide Binding Domains of
Multidrug Resistant Proteins". I worked on
these membrane transporters that pump
drugs out of their targets cells, so cells are
resistant to these drugs. It’s a common
problem in cancers, TB and even malaria.
I was working on the ones that cause
resistance to chemotherapy in humans –
we were expressing these proteins in
bacteria, to make production and isolation
of large amounts possible.
South Africa is considered a thirdworld
country. Would you say
that this affects the quality of
our genetics research?
Yes, because quality of research is often
determined by how much funding and
resources one has. Most PhD students go
and do a "post-doc" research period overseas,
and come back with lots of experience
and new expertise. South Africa’s
conservation/population genetics are
world class – we have all
the animals right here, so we actually
have lots of foreign students coming
here for their MScs and PhDs.
What words of warning and
encouragement would you
have for someone who wants
to study genetics?
Genetics is a wide term. It can be looking
at the mutations in genes that cause
metabolic disorders, or expressing human
genes in bacteria for easier investigation,
or comparing the DNA fingerprints of
various animals (to determine how related
they are) for conservation biology.
I think it is quite difficult to really know
what one likes when one leaves highschool.
Anyone who is interested in biological
sciences should try and enrol in a
general BSc course that exposes you
to basic maths, chemistry, biochemistry,
botany and zoology. You never know
what you will find you like! And don’t be
discouraged if your matric marks are less
than great – one sometimes just needs
to find something that really grabs your
attention.
Any last comments?
Listen to Mark Shuttleworth – it’s hip to
be square! Don’t let friends tell you
science is boring. A career in science
might not always make you rich, but you
will be guaranteed to have an interesting,
flexible and challenging job for the rest of
your life!
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