MRC PhD students

Shantal Windvogel is currently a post-doctoral research fellow at the PROMEC Unit, under the mentorship of professor’s Wentzel Gelderblom (PROMEC) and Gert Maritz (University of the Western Cape).

Her study involves determining the effect of maternal nicotine exposure during gestation and lactation on cytochrome P450 expression and oxidative status in rat neonates and the modulating properties of rooibos (Aspalathus linearis). Tobacco smoking is the leading preventable cause of cancer deaths worldwide, accounting for approximately 25% and 4%, respectively, of cancer in men and women (Stewart and Kleihues, 2003). However, the Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2004), reported that nearly every organ in the body is affected by tobacco smoking.

She completed her PhD under the supervision of Professor Gert Maritz at the department of Medical Biosciences of the University of the Western Cape during 2006. In her PhD thesis, she investigated the effects of maternal exposure to nicotine and copper on lung development. She found that nicotine exposure via the pregnant or lactating mother caused the development of emphysematous lesions that were mainly manifested in the later life of the offspring. The changes did not appear to be reversible. In 2006, she was appointed as a research intern at the PROMEC unit of the MRC, under the mentorship of Professor Wentzel Gelderblom. Her study investigated the oxidative status in different organs of rats that were given various herbal infusions (tisanes) such as rooibos (Aspalathus linearis), honeybush (Cyclopia intermedia) and green and black tea (Camellia sinensis) over a 90-day period. The tisanes and teas were also analysed for their total polyphenolic composition and quantity and soluble solid content.