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Biography
Dr Karabelo Macmillan Moloantoa holds a PhD in Microbial Biotechnology from the University of the Free State (UFS) with speciality in Biotechnological application of bacterial consortia for wastewater bioremediation. In his MSc and PhD research studies, he focused on the developments of wastewater bioremediation systems using indigenous bacteria enriched, characterized and applied to remediate industrial chemical contaminants with no secondary contaminants. The developed biotechnological technologies are environmentally friendly and have been adopted for onsite treatment of wastewater from mines having different contaminants that are environmentally harmful with potential to cause health conditions including cancers and neurological conditions if left untreated.
Dr Moloantoa has been involved in various applied and environmental microbiology projects in the past 10 years of his academic research and has participated in 9 scientific conferences and authored 4 publications. When not conducting research, Dr Moloantoa has always been involved in the teaching and learning platform facilitating undergraduate theory and practical sessions including supervision of postgraduate students. He served as a part time lecture for over 5 years at Central University of Technology (CUT), served as a Tutor Practical and Demonstrator for over 9 years at the University of South Africa (UNISA) and University of the Free State (UFS). He is a member of Water Institute of South Africa (WISA) and South African Society for Microbiology (SASM), Applied Centre for Climate and Earth System Sciences (ACCESS) and an Alumni at FameLab represented Free State province in 2014.
Post his academic era as a Postgraduate student, he joined a Research and Development as a researcher in a Wastewater and Environmental Management company conducting research, developing water testing kits and doing consultations for industries with wastewater challenges. As an academic and scientist at heart, Dr Moloantoa joined the South African Grape and Wine Research Institute (SAGWRI) as a Postdoctoral research fellow hosted at Stellenbosch University where he conducted research on development of Biocontrol agents against Pathogenic fungi affecting grapes and wine on a microbial and molecular level.
After his hands on experience in Wine Microbiology developing Bio-control agents against pathogenic fungi, Dr Moloantoa joined the School of Life Science in the department of Microbiology within the college of Agriculture, Engineering and Sciences as a lecturer and researcher. Dr Moloantoa's research interest are in Environmental Microbiology, Biogeochemistry and applied Biotechnology.