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Group leader: 

Professor Anna-Mart Engelbrecht

Biographic details:

Anna-Mart Engelbrecht is currently a professor in the Department of Physiological Sciences at Stellenbosch 肆客足球. She completed a BSc (Hons) in Physiology at Stellenbosch 肆客足球, a MMedSc at the 肆客足球 of the Free State and received her PhD in 2005 at Stellenbosch 肆客足球. She received several prestigious awards which include the Dean's and Senate's Medals as well as the Gencor Bronze Medal from the 肆客足球 of the Free State, the Marie Curie Scholarship of the European Union, the Rector's award for Excellence in Research and the Vice-Rector's Research Award for exceptional achievement from Stellenbosch 肆客足球 as well as the Lasec Award for Excellence in Physiology Research from the Physiological Society of Southern Africa (PSSA). Twenty-one MSc and 18 PhD students completed the degrees under her supervision. She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed research articles and presented invited lectures at national and international conferences.  She established the Cancer Research Group (CRG) where they investigate chemo-resistance and mechanisms to counteract chemotherapy-induced damage to the heart and skeletal muscle; markers for the early detection of cancer, as well as metabolic pathways in the cancer micro-environment.

Research Focus:

Cancer does not distinguish between race, gender, age or socioeconomic position; it is merciful to no-one and despite the political will driving a concerted global effort, only marginal progress has been made in the War against Cancer. One aspect which contributes to the poor progress in the management of cancer relates to the severe collateral damage associated with the current treatment strategies. Although anthracyclines such as doxorubicin has proven to be of the most successful approaches to cancer treatment, it induces various side effects such as nausea, vomiting, hematopoietic suppression and cumulative, dose-dependent cardiac toxicity. However, this is not the only challenge that researchers and clinicians are faced with; cancer cells are becoming increasingly resistant to chemotherapy-induced cell death. The specific focus of our research is to explore new avenues of chemotherapy and adjuvant treatments that would favour the use of lower chemotherapy concentrations with less side-effect to normal healthy cells, while maintaining satisfactory levels of cancer cell death.

Current Student's and Projects:

Improving cancer patient outcomes based on a personalized medicine approach

Dr Carla Eksteen - Researcher

Email: ceksteen@sun.ac.za

Carla is a dedicated and results-driven cancer researcher with seven years of experience across multiple cancer models. She built a solid academic foundation at Stellenbosch 肆客足球 and has remained dedicated to producing high-quality research while striving for strong academic performance. Passionate about understanding chemotherapy resistance, her work has focused on the role of the tumour microenvironment in treatment outcomes. More recently, expanding to explore tumour immunogenicity and its impact on therapeutic response. Committed to advancing precision oncology in South Africa, Carla is eager to contribute to its integration and evolution in the local healthcare landscape.

The functional impact of a rare TP53 germline variant identified in breast cancer patients with the Li-Fraumeni-like syndrome.

Claudia Christowitz - PhD student. 

Email: claudiac@sun.ac.za

Precision medicine has become an emerging approach for cancer treatment and can significantly improve patient prognosis and care. To this extent, a pathology-supported genetic testing (PSGT) framework was established in South Africa to enhance the clinical outcomes for breast cancer patients. This framework consists of a wellness survey, chemical pathology, histopathology reports, and genetic testing, including point-of-care screening, multi-gene panel testing and whole exome or genome sequencing (WES/WGS). However, the implementation of WES/WGS as a first-line screen is hampered by the frequent identification of variants of uncertain significance (VUSs). Therefore, the overall goal of her project was to establish a functional genomics pipeline to be incorporated into the PSGT framework and thereby improve the classification of rare or novel variants and enhance the clinical benefits of WES/WGS.

Recently, a rare TP53 germline variant (NM_001126114.2, c.1018A>G, p.N340D) was identified for the first time through WES in a South African patient who tested negative for BRCA1/2 founder variants and had a history of three primary invasive breast carcinomas. Further family screening using WGS and Sanger sequencing confirmed co-segregation of the variant with cancer on the maternal side of the family. In silico tools predicted the TP53 N340D variant as likely pathogenic, while protein modelling pointed toward altered protein structure that could impair protein function. However, functional studies were still required to confirm the variant classification. As such, the aim of her project was to investigate the functional impact of the variant on cell proliferation, cell death, senescence, migration, immune destruction, and cell signalling responses in peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from these patients, as a translational ex vivo model. 

Green synthesis, characterisation, and anticancer activity of gold nanoparticles using Dodonaea viscosa as a reducing agent.

Nireshini Reddy - PhD student. 

Email: 18644538@sun.ac.za

An estimated 22% of women diagnosed with cancer in South Africa are afflicted with breast cancer. Current treatment options have many challenges, including severe adverse effects and chemoresistance. The rapidly growing field of nanotechnology has prompted great interest in its application for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers. Gold nanoparticles, particularly, have been widely investigated for their use in cancer therapeutics. The green synthesis approach is favourable in that it is cost-effective, sustainable, and makes use of plant materials used in traditional medicine. The selected plant for this study have already been shown to induce apoptosis in triple negative breast cancer cells. My study will use extracts of these plants to synthesis gold nanoparticles, in turn, imparting their anticancer properties to the nanoparticles. Therefore, the aim of my study is to investigate the applicability of green gold nanoparticles synthesised using aqueous extracts of D. viscosa for breast cancer treatment by using both in vitro and in vivo methods.

miR-142-3p in Cervical Cancer: Investigating Tumour Suppression, Drug Sensitivity, and the Role of Extracellular Vesicles in Tumour Microenvironment Dynamics.

Michelle van der Merwe - PhD student.

Email: 20331193@sun.ac.za

Michelle is investigating the role of miR-142-3p in cervical cancer. While miR-142-3p is primarily characterized as a tumour suppressor, emerging studies suggest it may have a dual role in cancer, particularly within the tumour microenvironment. Intracellularly, miR-142-3p exerts tumour-suppressive effects by reducing cell proliferation, enhancing cisplatin sensitivity, and inhibiting metastasis. However, cancer cells can selectively export this miRNA via extracellular vesicles (EVs), a mechanism that may allow them to eliminate its suppressive influence. Once in the tumour microenvironment, miR-142-3p can paradoxically promote tumour progression by being transferred to endothelial cells and fibroblasts, where it enhances angiogenesis and cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) activation, respectively. Michelle's research aims to deepen our understanding of miR-142-3p's complex role in cervical cancer, with the ultimate goal of identifying novel therapeutic strategies that could improve treatment outcomes.

Creating the foundation for a systems-based personalized medicine approach to cervical cancer diagnosis and treatment. 

Atarah Rass - PhD candidate. 

Email: 19142609@sun.ac.za

Cancer treatment has made significant strides, with immunotherapy emerging as a powerful tool to help the body's own immune system fight cancer. Breast cancer remains one of the most common cancers worldwide, yet not all patients are suitable candidates for immunotherapy. A major challenge is that some breast tumours, known as “cold tumours", lack sufficient immune cells to mount a strong immune response. Additionally, cancer cells have developed strategies to evade detection, suppress immune activity, and create a protective tumour microenvironment, making it even harder for the immune system to recognize and attack them.

My research focuses on making these tumours more immunogenic-increasing their ability to trigger a stronger immune response and improving their suitability for immunotherapy. One approach involves using specific chemotherapies to modify the tumour environment, attract immune cells, and expose hidden cancer cells to the immune system. I am also investigating the potential of Dodonaea Viscosa, a medicinal plant with traditional healing properties, to enhance immune responses against breast cancer.

By studying how chemotherapy and natural medicines influence the immune landscape of breast cancer, we aim to identify key markers that predict treatment success. Our goal is to develop more effective and personalized treatment strategies, ultimately improving outcomes for breast cancer patients and advancing the field of immunotherapy. Outside of academics, I am a writing consultant, writing workshop facilitator, and a freelance creative.

The possible anti-cancer role of Allium sativum L. in combination with chemotherapeutic agent, 5-fluorouracil, on colon cancer.