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Ralf Henkel
Prof. Ralf Henkel is a Reproductive Biologist with special interests in male reproduction, assisted reproduction as well as male contraception, and has clinical experience in Andrology, Urology and Assisted Reproduction. Prof. Henkel studied Biology and Chemistry at the Philipps University of Marburg, Germany, where he also obtained his PhD (magna cum laude) in Zoology with a thesis on 'Investigations on the protein secretion of rabbit blastocysts during early gravidity'. Afterwards, Prof. Henkel went into Andrology (male reproduction) at the Department of Dermatology and Andrology at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Germany, and completed his post-doctoral studies at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Tygerberg Hospital, University of Stellenbosch. In 1998, he habilitated (= 2nd PhD) for Reproductive Biology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Giessen, was promoted to Assistant, Associate and Extraodinary Professor in Giessen before he was offered a Full Professorship in 'Experimental Andrological Urology ' Endocrinology' at the Department of Urology at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany. In September 2005, he joined the Department of Medical Biosciences at the University of the Western Cape in September 2005 as research co-ordinator.
Teaching and Supervision
Prof. Henkel gave more than 60 invited lectures at numerous national and international conferences as well as various research institutions, published 62 peer-reviewed papers and was invited to write 16 book chapters. Moreover, he was presenter/co-presenter of more than 190 conference contributions and received 4 scientific awards. In 2005, Prof. Henkel was nominee for the prestigious Humboldt-South African Research Award.
Research interests
During his career Prof. Henkel obtained research funds of more than R 10 Mill., spearheaded 20 officially funded projects and supervised 10 MSc, 14 MD and 8 PhD theses. He is member of the editorial board of the Asian Journal of Andrology and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Andrologia. In addition, he is expert reviewer of 11 other renowned scientific journals with high impact factor in the field. Currently, he has close collaborations with working groups at the University of Stellenbosch, the universities of Giessen, Jena, Leipzig and Marburg in Germany, as well as with the Universidad de la Frontera, Temuco, Chile.
His special research interest lies in reproductive biology, assisted reproduction, andrology, spermatogenesis and epididymal sperm maturation, sperm functions, sperm-egg-interaction, biology and bioenergetics of the outer dense fibres, reactive oxygen species, sperm separation, sperm DNA fragmentation ' causes and influence on assisted reproduction, male genital tract inflammations and the influence of herbal extracts and phytochemicals on male reproductive functions.
CURRICULUM VITAE - Ralf Henkel
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