Cancer and Stem Cell Research Group

_______________________________________________________________________

Stem cells are known for their unique abilities of self renewal and to become any tissue/cell type in the body. Stem cells however can undergo mutations resulting in a mutated stem cell, what has been termed a cancer stem cell and has been shown to be the root cause of some cancers. The best characterised cancer with respect to a cancer stem cell origin is leukaemia, but cancer stem cells have been linked to breast, brain and colon cancers. Unlike normal cancer cells that are of a specific cell type and only undergo a certain amount of cell divisions, cancer stem cells can undergo an indefinite amount of cell divisions. Current chemotherapeutic strategies target cancer cells and not the cancer stem cells. The main objective of this research is to identify and characterize new chemotherapeutic agents from marine, indigenous plant and synthetic chemistry origins that exhibit the ability to kill breast cancer cells and breast cancer stem cells. We are developing expertise in the area of stem cell research, and have started characterizing the molecular chaperones (especially Hsp90) in stem cells. Therefore, we are also interested in identifying compounds capable of disrupting the chaperone machinery of breast cancer stem cells. This research will result in the identification of novel hit compounds that will aid other researchers in the development of effective drugs for the treatment of breast cancer.

Members of BioBRU currently engaged in Cancer and Stem Cell Research

Dr Earl Prinsloo
Dr Adrienne Edkins
Jessica Lawson
Nicodemus Mautsa
Jo-anne De La Mare
Leanne Cooper
Buhle Moyo
Amy Kenyon
Jason Sterrenberg

For individual research projects please refer to the Members page