6 February 2026: ICGEB welcomed Dr Mlungisi Cele, Director General of the South African Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), who headed a DSTI delegation visiting ICGEB Cape Town.
Together with ICGEB Cape Town Director, Dr Luiz Zerbini, ICGEB Director-General, Dr Lawrence Banks welcomed Dr Cele, Dr Kenny Tenza (Acting Deputy Director General, Technology Innovation) and DSTI colleagues, spending the morning together with ICGEB Group Leaders, fellows, researchers and the administrative team based at the Component.
Meeting to discuss key areas of the strategic partnership, including joint capacity building programmes, the visit provided an opportunity for both ICGEB and DSTI to discuss the future vision for ICGEB Cape Town, with the Component continuing to operate research programmes at the forefront of scientific excellence, whilst teaching and contributing to a vibrant research community in South Africa, across Africa and globally.
Discussions focused on the forthcoming ICGEB Board of Governors taking place in Cape Town in May 2026, ICGEB Cape Town research activities (Infectious Diseases: Emerging Viruses and Infectious Diseases: HIV, Non-communicable diseases: Cancer Genomics, Medical Biotechnology: Bioinformatics and Plant Biology and Biotechnology: Biopesticides and Plant Systems Biology), existing projects focusing on fellowships offered to South African women in biotechnology, as well as special capacity building programmes for researchers and students at South African Historically Disadvantaged Institutions.
Visiting the Cape Town Component for the first time, DG Cele interacted with all of the researchers across the research groups, meeting fellows from eighteen nations, the majority from Africa, including, Djibouti, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, eSwatini, Sudan, South Africa and Tunisia.
