Mariska Lilly

• Senior Researcher, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Education
1992:Matric Certificate with Distinction, Louis Trichardt High School, Louis Trichardt
1996:BSc Agriculture (Microbiology, Biochemistry, Genetics), University of Stellenbosch
1998:MSc Agriculture Cum Laude (Wine Biotechnology), University of Stellenbosch
2004:PhD Agriculture (Wine Biotechnology), University of Stellenbosch
Career
2004-2007:Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, Department of Applied Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology (Cape Town Campus)
2007-2008:Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, Microbiology Department, Stellenbosch University
2009-2011:Claude Leon Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, Microbiology Department, Stellenbosch University
2011-2012:Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, Microbiology Department, Stellenbosch University
2013-2014:Researcher, Microbiology Department, Stellenbosch University
2014-2019:Researcher, Institute of Biomedical and Microbial Biotechnology (IBMB), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (Bellville campus).
2020-onwards:Senior Researcher, Applied Microbial and Health Biotechnology Institute (AMHBI), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (Bellville campus)

International and nationalisation: Collaborative projects
i mechanisms of fumonisin biosynthesis by F. verticillioides (Project leader Dr M Lilly; Collaborators Prof WCA Gelderblom, Dr JP Rheeder, Mycotoxicology Research Group, IBMB; Dr H Volschenk, Microbiology Department, US; Dr B Janse van Rensburg, ARC-Grain Crop Institute; Dr RH Proctor, Dr M Vaughan, ARS, USDA, USA) – Maize Trust funding. on Fusarium verticillioides-maize interactions related to fumonisin production under drought stress conditions – an omics approach. (Project Leader Dr M Lilly, Collaborators Prof WCA Gelderblom, Dr B Janse van Rensburg, ARC-Grain Crop Institute; Dr RH Proctor, Dr M Vaughan, ARS, USDA, USA) – NRF funding. of mycotoxin biosynthesis by mycotoxigenic fungi utilizing South African herbal teas – development of bio-control models (Project Leader Dr M Lilly, Collaborators Dr Etinosa Omoruyi (CPUT); Dr H Volschenk, Microbiology Department, US: Dr B Janse van Rensburg, ARC-Grain Crop Institute; Dr RH Proctor, Dr M Vaughan, ARS, USDA, USA) – Maize Trust funding. effect of fumonisin B1 mycotoxin on intestinal function using human and porcine in vitro cell models – a proteomics approach (Project Leader Dr M Lilly; Collaborators Prof WCA Gelderblom, Dr H-M Burger, Mycotoxicology Research Group, IBMB, CPUT; Dr S Abel, Chemoprevention, IBMB, CPUT; Dr E Mayer, BIOMIN Holding GmbH, BIOMIN Research Center, Tulln, Austria) – CPUT funding.
v.A proteomic and selected transcriptomic assessment of the chemoprevention properties of rooibos and honeybush herbal teas against UVB-induced skin damage (Project leader Dr M Lilly; Collaborators Prof WCA Gelderblom, Dr S Abel, Dr HM Maranyane, Dr S Samodien, Chemoprevention Research Group, IBMB) - South African Rooibos Council funding. of inflammation and ABC transporters – a critical assessment of the effect of rooibos polyphenols on gut health (Project leader Dr M Lilly; Collaborators Dr S Abel, CPUT; Dr E Mayer, BIOMIN Holding GmbH, BIOMIN Research Center, Tulln, Austria) - South African Rooibos Council funding. as preventive strategy for allergy – evaluation in in vitro and in vivo models (Project leaders Prof E Joubert (Food Science, ARC Infruitec, SU); Prof M Yutaka (Nutritional Physio-chemistry, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan); Co-investigators Dr M Lilly (Molecular Biology, AMBHI), Dr T Magcwebeba (Postdoc, CPUT), Dr WCA Gelderblom (Biochemistry, US), Prof D de Beer (Food Chemistry, ARC Infruitec, SU), Prof Y Tadashi (Food allergies, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan), Prof N Yoshihiro (Skin Biology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan) – NRF South Africa Japan joint funding. as delivery system of honeybush anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory bioactives. (Project leaders Dr M Lilly, AMHBI, CPUT; Prof M Yutaka (Nutritional Physio-chemistry, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan); Co-investigators Prof D de Beer (Food Chemistry, ARC Infruitec, SU), Prof Y Tadashi (Food allergies, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan), Prof N Yoshihiro (Skin Biology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan) – NRF South Africa Japan joint funding. biological system for concurrent wastewater treatment, solids reduction and resource recovery from tannery wastewater (Project leader Dr P Welz (BTB, IBMB); Collaborators Dr M Lilly, Dr O Oyekola (Chem Eng)). of microbial additives for animals to promote health and sustainable farming practices. (Project leader Dr M Lilly; Industry partner Dr D Neveling, Probipher) – THRIP funding.

Society memberships
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR); South African Society for Microbiology (SASM); South African Society for Plant Pathology (SASPP); The British Mycological Society (BMS); Nutritional Society of South Africa (NSSA); South African Society for Bioinformatics (SASBi)

Student Supervision/Promoter experience
International: 5 Internships (UPEC, Paris, France)
National:7 x Postdoctoral Fellows (3 completed); 3 x PhD (2 current; 1 completed); 6 x MSc (4 current; 2 completed); 3 x MSc (Co-supervision) (2 completed, 1 current); 4 PGDip (2 current; 2 completed); 9 x BHSc

Publications
Lilly, M., M.G. Lambrechts & I.S Pretorius. 2000. The effect of increased yeast alcohol acetyltransferase activity on the flavour profiles of wine and distilleries. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 66(2): 744-753.
Lilly, M., F.F. Bauer, M.G. Lambrechts, J.H. Swiegers & I.S. Pretorius. 2006. The effect of increased yeast alcohol acetyltransferase and esterase activity on the flavour profiles of wine and distillates. Yeast. 23(9): 641-659.
Lilly, M., F.F. Bauer, G. Styger, M.G. Lambrechts & I.S. Pretorius. 2006. The effect of increased yeast branched-chain amino acid transaminase activity on the production of higher alcohols and on the flavour profiles of wine and distillates. FEMS Yeast research. 6(5): 726-743.
Swiegers J.H., R. Willmott, A. Hill-Ling, D.L. Capone, K.H. Pardon, G.M. Elsey, K.S. Howell, M.A. de Barros Lopes, M.A. Sefton, M. Lilly & I.S. Pretorius. 2006. Modulation of volatile thiol and ester aromas by modified wine yeast. Developments in Food Science. Flavour Science – Recent Advances and Trends. 43: 113-116.
Lilly, M., H.P. Fierobe, W.H. van Zyl, & H. Volschenk. 2009. Heterologous expression of a Clostridium minicellulosome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. FEMS Yeast Research. 9(8): 1236-1249.
Alberts, J.F., M. Lilly, J.P. Rheeder H.M. Burger, G.S. Shephard & W.C.A. Gelderblom. 2017. Technological and community-based methods to reduce mycotoxin exposure. Food Control. 73:101-109.
Abrahams, S., S. Samodien, M. Lilly, E. Joubert & W.C.A Gelderblom. 2018. Differential Modulation of Gene Expression Encoding Hepatic and Renal Xenobiotic Metabolizing Enzymes by an Aspalathin-Enriched Rooibos Extract and Aspalathin. Planta medica. DOI: 10.1055/a-0656-7500.
Lilly, M., Rheeder, J.P., Proctor, R.H. and Gelderblom, W.C.A., 2021. FUM gene expression and variation in fumonisin production of clonal isolates of Fusarium verticillioides MRC 826. World Mycotoxin Journal, pp.1-18.
Kibangou, V.A., M. Lilly, A.B. Mpofu, N. de Jonge, O.O. Oyekola & P.J. Welz. Sulfate-reducing and methanogenic microbial community responses during anaerobic digestion of tannery effluent. Bioresource Technology. 2021 Nov 9:126308.
Kaela, C.R., Lilly, M., Rheeder, J.P., Misihairabgwi, J.M., and Alberts, J.F. Mycological and Multiple Mycotoxin Surveillance of Sorghum and Pearl Millet Produced by Smallholder Farmers in Namibia. Accepted for publication in Current Microbiology (Impact factor: 2.188).
B. E Omoruyi, H. Volschenk, W.C.A Gelderblom and M. Lilly. Biocontrol of Fusarium species utilising indigenous rooibos and honeybush extracts (Accepted for publication in Microbiology Spectrum; July 2022).
Welz PJ, De Jonge N, Lilly M, Kaira W, Mpofu AB. Integrated biological system for remediation and valorization of tannery wastewater: Focus on microbial communities responsible for methanogenesis and sulfidogenesis. Bioresource Technology. 2024 Feb 1:130411. (Impact factor: 11.889).
Samodien S, de Kock M, Joubert E, de Beer D, Kriel J, Gelderblom WC, Lilly M. Autophagy‐induced cell death by aqueous and polyphenol‐enriched extracts of honeybush (Cyclopia spp.) in liver and colon cancer cells. Food Science & Nutrition. 2024. (Impact factor: 3.553).
Keet, L., Magcwebeba, T., Abel, S., Louw, A., Gelderblom, W. and Lilly, M., 2024. Modulation of UVB-induced oxidative stress and inflammation in skin keratinocytes (HaCaT) utilising unfermented rooibos and honeybush aqueous extracts. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology, p.100242. (Impact factor: 4.3).
De Bruyn-Orr, S., Abel, S., Rado, M. and Lilly, M., 2025. Modulating the anti-inflammatory and barrier protective effects on intestinal epithelial cells utilizing an aqueous Aspalathus linearis extract in vitro. Phytomedicine Plus, 5(1), p.100678. (Impact factor: 3.0).
Magcwebeba, T., McEvoy, L., Hayward, S., Tait, T., Quanson, J.L., Kelbe, L., Gelderblom, W.C.A., Lilly, M., Swart, A.C. and Swart, P., 2025. Chemopreventative potential of Salsola tuberculatiformis Botch and Compound A in the differential regulation of IL-1Ra: IL-1α in UVB exposed skin keratinocytes. Phytomedicine Plus, 5(1), p.100688. (Impact factor: 3.0).

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