Dr. Itumeleng Matle graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy in Agriculture from the University of South Africa in 2020. He also graduated from the Tshwane University of Technology with a B-Tech degree in Veterinary Technology and an M-Tech in Environmental Health. He is currently a senior researcher and head of laboratory at the Agricultural Research Council: Onderstepoort Veterinary Research. Dr. Matle has over 14 years of experience in the fields of veterinary diagnostics and laboratory science. Dr. Matle's experience cuts across various fields of veterinary diagnostics pertaining to veterinary bacteriology, food microbiology, genomic epidemiology of foodborne bacterial pathogens, and laboratory management. He is an NRF Y-rated researcher who has supervised several honours, and MSc students and a PhD student. Dr. Matle has published (authored and co-authored) 22 peer-reviewed articles in accredited journals (local and international). At present, Dr. Matle serves as a reviewer for several journals, including Frontiers in Microbiology, Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, Infection, Genetics, and Evolution Journal, and MDPI-Pathogens. He also serves on various national committees, such as the SAVC paraveterinary specialization committees; South African Veterinary Laboratory Scientific Forum, and the Brucellosis Working Group, just to mention a few. As a researcher, the career goal is to conduct research and knowledge dissemination in veterinary bacteriology and food microbiology through the integration of phenotypic and microbial genomic techniques to make proposals for the detection of infectious disease pathogens.