Prof Werner Cordier

Work and Research

My research focus area for which I have NRF Y2-rating revolves around advanced cancer cell modelling, particularly in terms of triple-negative breast and alveolar cancer. My team aims to determine the molecular drivers of dormancy and chemoresistance/responsiveness. To do so, cancer cells are grown in a three-dimensional environment, thus allowing for the generation of multicellular spheroids that better represent the human system (including different gradients of nutrient availability and waste removal). By investigating the outer and inner regions of the spheroid, which display different responses to chemotherapy and cellular characteristics, a better profile of dysregulated proteins ca be determined throughout the spheroids. In doing so, it can explain the reason for chemoresistance, altered accessibility of the chemotherapeutic to the inner regions of the spheroid (which are more resistance to treatment), and whether there are proteins that display enough stability and non-reliance to cell proliferation which could be more amenable for selective treatment. The majority of the current research is focused on characterisation of the model with parallel chemoresponsiveness testing against several samples (known chemotherapeutics, indigenous knowledge systems, or nanoparticulate formulations), as well as establishing non-cancer control spheroids for cancer selectivity testing. Funding is currently provided under two NRF funding schemes (Incentive Rating and Competitive Y-Rated). At present, four Masters students have graduated in this line, with one Doctoral student and two Masters students currently working in the laboratory. Furthermore, these students have presented at several conference, including the South African Society for Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, World Congress of Pharmacology, and Society for Advanced Cell Culture Modelling in Africa platforms, where they have been awarded with student prizes for their research. This has also allowed for two publications in Biomedicines and the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, both of which are accredited international journals.