Meet a CSIR geneticist who specialises in stem cell research

Dr Janine Scholefield became inspired to study genetics during a high-school biology lesson when she was taught how the laws of inheritance were derived from experiments performed by Austrian monk Gregor Mendel on more than 5 000 pea plants in the late nineteenth century.
A geneticist studies the way genes control the cells in our bodies, particularly how gene mutations can adversely affect cells and cause disease.
Scholefield now specialises in the field of stem cell biology. She came to the CSIR to set up advanced stem cell research technology to study African diseases. One project involves trying to understand how HIV attacks cells and why some people are more susceptible to the disease than others.