People

Marike completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, under the primary guidance of Fanus Venter and Emma Steenkamp. This was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pretoria, and a postdoctoral scholar appointment at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA, in the research group of Brian Hedlund.

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Her research focuses on biodiversity exploration and integrating -omics data into microbial systematics. Her scholarly research outputs pivot on utilizing modern approaches in microbial taxonomy, documenting and utilizing biological novelty to expand the known breadth of microbial diversity, and understanding evolutionary drivers generating that diversity.