Dr Christine Maritz-Olivier

 
christine.maritz [at] up.ac.za
Tel: +27 012 420 3945
Fax: +27 012 420 5327
 

Christine Maritz-Olivier (née Maritz) was born in Pretoria in 1974 and matriculated in 1991. She furthered her studies at the University of Pretoria and obtained all her postgraduate degrees cum laude. In 2005 she obtained a PhD with a thesis entitled “The mechanisms regulating exocytosis of the salivary glands of the soft tick, Ornithodoros savignyi.”  During 2005-2010 she completed a Wellcome Trust funded postdoctoral fellowship, and was appointed as a permanent fulltime senior lecturer in the Department of Genetics in 2010. She received various national and international awards, including a PhD Mellon Foundation Postgraduate Mentoring Fellowship (New York), the Bruce and Betty Alberts Endowed Scholarship in Physiology, the Caswell Grave Scholarship and the Frank R. Lillie Fellowship from the Marine Biology Laboratory (MA, USA), a Young Scientist Award from the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Best Biotechnology research program in Gauteng and Exceptional Young Researcher award at the University of Pretoria (2013). To date 18 BSc(Hons), 7 MSc and 1 PhD candidates competed their degrees, with 2 BSc(Hons), 7 MSc and 4 PhD candidates currently enrolled under her supervision.

Qualifications

PhD (Biochemistry) 2005
Welcome Trust funded postdoc (2005-2010)

Teaching

GTS 351 -  Eukaryotic Gene Control & Development

 

Research focus

The research group of Dr Maritz-Olivier on ticks and tick-borne diseases comprise of four pillars. The first being the development of anti-tick vaccines using a combined functional genomics and reverse vaccinology approach. A number of antigens have been identified by her group using this pipeline and validated in cattle vaccine trials. Protective antigens capable of a 75% reduction in tick maturation have been identified and are in the process of expanded vaccine trials.

Secondly, in collaboration with Zoetis, her group is focusing on understanding the genetic diversity of ticks throughout South Africa, their current acaricide resistance status and tick-borne pathogen profiles. This is vital for the development of future anti-tick control strategies.

Thirdly, she focuses on the tick-borne pathogens, Babesia divergens (causative agent of redwater, collaboration with France) and Anaplasma marginale (causative agent of gallsickness, collaboration with Spain). Her group has evaluated a promising drug against B.divergens and identified the protein-protein interactions between tick gut cells and A. marginale surface proteins. These will pave the way forward for therapeutics targeting the parasite-pathogen interphases.

Lastly, other haematophagous vectors (mosquitoes and biting midges) are used to evaluate promising control strategies using in vivo gene silencing.
 

List of Current Postgraduate Students

 Publications:

• Maritz-Olivier C, Richards S (2013) Book chapter entitled: Considerations for vaccine development in the post-genomic era. Book entitled: Vaccines from prophylaxis to therapy. Editor: M Giese (University of Heidelberg, Germany). Published by Springer (Wien).
• Christian Stutzer, Willem Andries van Zyl, Sabine Richards, Nicholas Olivier, Christine Maritz-Olivier (2013). Gene expression profiling of adult female tissues in feeding Rhipicephalus microplus. International Journal of Parasitology, Mar 13.
• Elizabeth Louw, Nicolaas A. van der Merwe, Albert W.H. Neitz, Christine Maritz-Olivier. (2013). Evolution of the tissue factor pathway inhibitor-like Kunitz domain-containing protein family in Rhipicephalus microplus. International Journal for Parasitology, 43, 81–94.
• Annette-Christi Barnard, Ard M. Nijhof, Wilma Fick, Christian Stutzer and Christine Maritz-Olivier (2012). RNAi in Arthropods: Insight into the Machinery and Applications for Understanding the Pathogen-Vector Interface. Genes, 3, 702-741. (Invited Review)
• Maritz-Olivier C, van Zyl W, Stutzer C (2012). A systematic, functional genomics and reverse vaccinology approach to the identification of vaccine candidates in the cattle tick, Rhipicephalus microplus. Ticks Tick Borne Diseases, Apr 19. (Invited manuscript).
• Annette-Christi Badenhorst, Ard Nijhof, Albert Neitz, Frans Jongejan, Christine Maritz-Olivier (2012). Expression profiling, gene silencing and transcriptional networking of Metzincin metalloproteases in the cattle tick, Boophilus microplus. Vet Parasitol.;186(3-4):403-14
• Stutzer, C., Mans, BJ., Neitz, AWH, Maritz-Olivier, C. (2009) Identification and sequence analysis of two members of the 5’-nucleotidase family from the soft tick, Ornithodoros savignyi. Experimental Parasitology, 122: 318-327.
• José de la Fuente, Christine Maritz-Olivier, Victoria Naranjo, Patricia Ayoubu, Ard M. Nijhof, Consuelo Almazán, Mario Canales, José M. Pérez de la Lastra, Ruth C. Galindo, Edmour F. Blouin, Christian Gortazar, Frans Jongejan, Katherine M. Kocan (2008) Evidence of the role of tick subolesin in gene expression, BMC Genomics, 9: 372-388.
• Maritz-Olivier, C., Stutzer, C., Jongejan, F., Neitz, A.W.H., Gaspar, A.R.D (2007), Tick anti-hemostatics: targets for future vaccines and therapeutics. Trends in Parasitology, 2007 Sep; 23(9):397-407.
• Maritz-Olivier, C., Louw, A.I., Neitz, A.W.H. (2006) Similar mechanisms regulate protein exocytosis from the salivary glands of ixodid and argasid ticks. Journal of Insect Physiology, Dec; 51(12), 1390-6.
• Maritz, C.; Louw, A.I.; Gothe, R.; Neitz, A.W.H. (2001) Neuropathogenic properties of Argas (Persicargas) walkerae larval homogenates. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A, 128, 233-239.
• Maritz, C.; Louw, A.I.; Gothe, R.; Neitz, A.W.H. (2000). Detection and microscale isolation of a low molecular mass paralysis toxin from the tick, Argas (Persicargas) walkerae. Experimental and Applied Acarology, 24, 615-630.

 Community involvement & Society memberships:

•  Dr Maritz-Olivier is the associate editor for the International Journal of Parasitology research (http://www.bioinfo.in/contents.php?id=28&page=aim)
• Chairperson for TTP8 STVM Conference 2014
• Member of the NRF panel for Biochemistry and Biotechnology (2011-)
• Member of the DST/THRIP technical audit panel (2011-)