Bio
Dr Lydia-Marie Joubert received her BSc (Mathematics and Botany), Hons.BSc and MSc (Botany) from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, where she was born and raised. Her PhD was co-supervised by prof. Jan Coetzee (Pretoria University SA) and prof. Paul Mahlberg, (Indiana University, Bloomington, USA) where she performed the most significant component of her postgraduate research. Her international scientific career was launched during her MSc studies, with an internship at Weizmann Institute, Israel, under mentorship of prof. Dan Atsmon in Plant Genetics. Her postgraduate studies focused on monoterpene biosynthesis and trichome development in the genus Pelargonium, and techniques of electron microscopy and gas chomatography were further explored and developed. After postdoctoral studies in plant-microbial symbiosis, Dr. Joubert moved towards Environmental Microbiology with a research focus on microbial biofilms and their practical application especially in bioenergy production and wastewater remediation. Ultrastructural TEM and SEM application runs as a thread throughout her research. After moving to the USA she joined Stanford University as Sr Research Professional and lead scanning electron microscopist in life sciences, with a strong focus on technique development for hydrogel and biomaterial imaging, as well as array tomography and serial volume (3D) imaging. Correlative light and electron, as well as X-ray microscopy, were further explored and developed. In 2017 Dr. Joubert moved back to Stellenbosch as head of Electron Microscopy and associate professor in Microbiology. In addition to leading the main EM Unit in Stellenbosch, she started an EM unit at the Medical School in Tygerberg, Cape Town, with the acquisition of an Apreo Volumescope for 3D and conventional SEM and TEM application.
She moved back to Stanford at the end of 2019 to join the newly formed Stanford SLAC Cryo-EM Center (S2C2) under leadership of prof. Wah Chiu. Here she supports users in Single Particle data collection and develop techniques in cryoFIB-SEM as tool for cryo-EM tomography, 'slice and view' 3D data collection and correlated light and electron microscopy under cryogenic conditions. Her main research focus returned to plant and microbial studies in cellulosic bio-energy, as well as fundamental aspects of mitochondria development in health and disease. She has a keen interest in visualization and has won numerous awards in scientific imaging contests. Her electron micrographs regularly feature on the front cover of scientific journals. She was appointed as Professor Extraordinary in Microbiology at Stellenbosch University, where she continues to support the development of Electron Microscopy in Life and Medical Sciences. She lives in Los Altos, California.
Current Role at Stanford
Electron Microscopy Specialist<br/>Cryo-EM Specialist
