Prof Wolf-Dieter Schubert is a structural biologist working to unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying various infectious diseases. Apart from X-ray crystallography, work in the laboratory involves various aspects of molecular biology, protein biochemistry and biophysical characterisation particularly of protein-protein or protein-ligand interactions. Before joining the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 2013, he was Professor of Biotechnology at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa from 2009 and before that Research Group Leader at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany. He completed postdoctoral stints in Braunschweig, Germany and Tsukuba, Japan. His PhD is from the Free University of Berlin, Germany while he undertook the remainder of his tertiary education at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.