Integrative Cancer Biology Research Laboratory

The Integrative Cancer Biology Research Lab is based at the School of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of the Witwatersrand.

Research Aims

Our research is focused on characterising the role of cholesterol-related pathways in three aggressive cancers namely breast, pancreatic and colorectal cancer. Cholesterol is an essential component of cell membrane, and several types of cancer cells accumulate cholesterol to support their rapid cell division and proliferation. We have an integrated research platform where we apply knowledge gained from laboratory work (including in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo) and bioinformatics (analysis of lab data as well as publicly available data) to identify the molecular and signalling pathways underlying cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. One of the key focus of our work is to target cholesterol in the cancer cell or tumour to develop new therapeutic options and also to combat drug resistance in cancer.