Don Cowan

Don Cowan was educated (BSc, MSc, PhD) at the University of Waikato (New Zealand) and completed a 4-year period of postdoctoral research under the supervision of Professor Roy Daniel before moving to a Lectureship at University College London (UK) in 1985. After 16 years in London, he was appointed to the Chair of Microbiology and Head of the Department of Biotechnology at the University of the Western Cape (RSA), where he established the Institute for Microbial Ecology and Metagenomics. In 2012, he moved to the University of Pretoria where he is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, and is currently the Director of both the Genomics Research Institute and the Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics.

Don’s research is in the fields of microbial ecology, microbial genomics and applied microbiology, where he and his team use modern ‘omics’ methods to understand the diversity and function of microorganisms in different environments. Much of his research focuses on the microbiology of extreme environments, including hot (Namib) and cold (Antarctic) desert soils, but he also supervises a range of other soil microbiome projects, and is currently leading the pan-African African Soil Microbiome study. He is a very experienced Antarctic researcher, with some 15 field expeditions to the McMurdo Dry Valleys.

Current research projects / interests:

• Soil microbiomics
• Antarctic soil microbial ecology

Keywords: Antarctic microbiology; desert soils; microbiomics; metagenomics.