Prof. Johann Rohwer

I obtained my PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 1997 under the supervision of Hans Westerhoff. I have been employed in the Department of Biochemistry at Stellenbosch University since 1997, first as a Senior Lecturer, then from 2002-2010 as Associate Professor, and since January 2011 as Full Professor. From 2015-2019, I served as Head of Department. My main research area is systems biology, focussing on two aspects: (i) Enzyme kinetics for modelling of cellular pathways, with an emphasis on developing new experimental techniques based on NMR spectroscopy, as well as the development of new kinetic rate equations and computational tools for modelling. (ii) Developing and analysing kinetic models for various cellular systems: carbon metabolism in plants and microbes, steroid receptor signalling pathways, and cellular redox networks. I serve on the editorial boards of Frontiers in Plant Science, BMC Bioinformatics, Journal of Experimental Botany and in silico Plants. I am also a member of the international STRENDA Commission tasked with formulating a list of unified STandards for Reporting ENzymology DAta. I have been the recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship, allowing me to spend sabbaticals in Germany in 2008 (at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology) and 2016 (at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology).