Adeebah Rakiep joins FW

Adeebah Rakiep, Water Hub Research Assistant 

Adeebah Rakiep joined the Future Water Institute in March 2020 as a Research Assistant after completing her MSc degree in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Her postgraduate research focused on a diverse group of bacteria, referred to as actinomycetes or actinobacteria, that are widely known to be good producers of antibiotics. Her main focus was to isolate and identify rare actinobacteria and screen the isolates for novel anti-tubercular antibiotic activity.

As a molecular biologist, with a main interest in microbiology, she is currently working on a research project to identify and analyse the microbial diversity of a nature-based water treatment system at the Water Hub. Upcoming projects would include investigating the microbial degradation of contaminating environmental and pharmaceutical compounds to gain an understanding of the role microbes play in treating contaminated wastewater. Other than investigating microbes and the role they play in wastewater treatment, she is also assisting postgraduate students who have related research projects based at the Water Hub with the molecular aspects of their research. 

Adeebah hopes to contribute to the Future Water Institute by conducting molecular and microbial research for improved wastewater treatment systems.