Theresa Coetzer is Professor of Biochemistry and holds a DST-NRF SARChi Chair in Proteolyisis in Homeostasis, Health and Disease in the School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
She was the Acting Dean of Research: College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal. Prof Coetzer was a Fulbright Research Fellow at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA. She served as the President of the South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and remains a Member of the Society. Prof Coetzer is also a Member of the International Proteolysis Society, the Royal Society of South Africa, the Parasitology Society of Southern Africa and the Organisation of Women in Science in the Developing World (OWSD).
She currently holds an NRF B rating. Prof Coetzer’s research focusses on proteolytic enzymes as diagnostic and drug targets in African parasitic diseases: mainly animal and human trypanosomiasis (nagana and sleeping sickness) and also trichinellosis and theileriosis.
She also has Expertise in producing antibodies in chickens against the whole proteases and against peptides corresponding to epitopes identified in silico. Chicken egg yolk antibodies (IgY) are powerful immunochemical tools that find wide application in research and she has established a number of collaborations around this capacity.
