Munashe Crispen Mazodze

Munashe Crispen was born in Zaka District, a rural township in Masvingo Province of Zimbabwe. He completed his undergraduate degree (BSc. Hons) in chemistry at the Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe in 2017 and then enrolled for his PhD studies within the Petersen Group in 2019. 

His research focuses on employing transition metal and photoredox catalysis strategies for the total synthesis of complex natural product alkaloids and their application towards the development of novel molecules to help fight the African Disease burden and drug resistance.

Phathu Masithi

Phathu was born in Thohoyandou, a town in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, he obtained his MSc. in Organic Chemistry from the same institution under the mentorship of Professor Dean Brady in 2019 (Co-supervised by Professor Moira Bode and Dr Maya Makatini) and subsequently enrolled for his PhD studies within the Petersen Group.

He currently works in the area of asymmetric catalysis with a key focus on developing enantioselective processes for the synthesis of biologically important unnatural amino acids and related heterocycles.

Ash Bhana

Ash completed his BSc. in Chemistry and Polymer Science at the University of Stellenbosch in 2013 and thereafter his BSc. (Hons) in Chemistry in 2014. Following the completion of his Masters degree (MSc.) in Synthetic Organic Chemistry in 2017 under the supervision and tutelage of Dr. Gareth Arnott at the University of Stellenbosch, he spent two years as a Research Scientist at H3D, the Drug Discovery and Development Centre based in the University of Cape Town, working in the areas of malaria and tuberculosis. 

In 2020, he joined the Petersen Group as a PhD student where his research focuses on developing novel small molecule fragments relevant to drug discovery and chemical biology, with a specific application towards antimicrobial resistance.

Meghan Oddy

Meghan grew up in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. She moved to Cape Town in 2016 and completed her BSc. Majoring in Physics and Chemistry from the University of Cape Town in 2018. She then obtained her BSc. (Hons) degree in Chemistry from the same institute in 2019, during which, she worked under the supervision of Professor Roger Hunter to complete her honours thesis in organic synthetic chemistry.

She joined the Petersen group in 2020 as a PhD student and her current research focuses on employing  single electron transfer and triplet energy transfer activation modes for the photocatalytic synthesis of biologically important nitrogen-containing heterocycles.

Farhaan Dobah

Chipo Magura

Chipo Magura obtained her BSc. (Hons) in Chemistry at the University of Zimbabwe in 2018. She then took up a position at Varichem Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd as a Quality Control Chemist before joining the Petersen Group as an MSc. student in 2020. 

Chipo's research is in the area of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery and involves the synthesis and exploration of novel macrocyclic compounds that can be used in the fight against tuberculosis and malaria. She is very passionate about chemistry and aspires to establish a career as a research scientist.

Jonathan Da Luz

Jonathan is an aspiring organic chemist born in Cape Town, South Africa. After completing his BSc. (Hons) at the University of Cape Town in 2020, he joined the Petersen group as a master’s student.

His research aims to develop a dual organocatalysis / photoredox catalysis strategy for the enantioselective introduction of nitrogen into organic molecules that can be applied to the construction of nitrogen containing heterocycles and related natural products.

Josef Späth

Josef was born and grew up in Cape Town. After graduating with a BSc. majoiring in Physics and Chemistry from the University of Cape Town, he went on to complete his BSc. (Hons) in Chemistry in the Petersen Group.

Josef joined the Petersen Group as an MSc. student in 2022 where his research concerns the enantioselective synthesis of bioactive oxindole-derived compounds via photoredox catalysis.