Dr Gabriel Mashabela is a leader of GabLab, a TB-drug discovery  research group at SAMRC Centre for Tuberculosis Research (CTR), which is housed within the Stellenbosch University, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics. He is a qualified biochemist and bioorganic chemist who was graduated with PhD in chemical pathology from the University of Cape Town where he studied mycobacterial defence systems against host oxidative stress. His research journey continued with a five year postdoctoral fellowships that was split between Basel University and the University of Cape Town, where he conducted extensive research on mycobacterial metabolism, which culminated in his appointment as a specialist scientist and a group leader at the South African Medical Research council at the Centre for Tuberculosis Research in 2018. Dr Mashabela combines expertise in biochemistry, microbiology, organic chemistry and metabolomics to advance research in TB early drug discovery (assay design, hit discovery, target identification, validation and prioritization etc). He is a recipient of multiple individual and group awards, which support research activities at GabLab, notably the Grant Challenges Africa Drug Discovery Accelerator (GCADDA), National Research Foundation (NRF), South African and Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Swiss National Government.