MRC PhD students

His research project is titled: Cytotoxic, anti-mutagenic/anti-oxidant, anti-proliferative and cancer modulating properties of Sutherlandia in short term in vitro and in vivo carcinogenesis.

The project he is working on looks at the following aspects of the well-known Western Cape medicinal plant known as ‘cancer-bush or kankerbos’ and commercially known as sutherlandia. Sutherlandia frutscens, a medicinal plant from southern Africa is used in South Africa for a wide range of illnesses from flu and fevers to internal cancers and HIV.

He is researching the cytotoxicity effects of sutherlandia extracts, their anti-mutagenic/anti-oxidant anti-proliferative and cancer modulating activities of this plant. The project will also look at the effect of these extracts on the activity of different enzyme systems in vivo and these include cytochrome P450, GST- α, μ and UDP-GT of S9 liver fractions of rats fed sutherlandia over a 90 day period and the ex vivo modulating effects of chemical induced mutagenesis will be monitored by liver cytosolic and microsomal fractions obtained from rats fed sutherlandia for 90 days. The final stage of the project will consist of phytochemical isolation, identification and re-testing of compounds obtained on the above in vitro and in vivo assays.

This study is supervised by Prof WCA Gelderblom and Dr DP Katerere of the MRC PROMEC Unit and Prof J Syce of UWC.