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UCT Research Report '11
272
Senior House Officers
2
Chief Professional Nurse
2
Administrative and clerical staff
3
Diagnostic Service
Senior Pathologist
1
Pathologists
2
Pathologist part-time
1
Scientist
1
Pathology Registrars (Special and Clin Path)
7
Laboratory Manager
1
Medical Technologists
15
Technicians
4
UCT Leukaemia Unit
Scientist
1
Research Officer
1
Research Technologist
1
Clinical Research Co-Ordinator
1
Administrative and clerical staff
1
Laboratory assistants (medical school)
2
Students
Doctoral
1
Master’s
4
MMed
2
Research Fields and Staff
Professor Nicolas Novitzky
Haematopoietic stem cell biology; clonogenic assays;
haematopoietic stem cell transplantation; immune
reconstitution; haematological malignancies
Dr Cecile du Toit
Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation; haematological
malignancies; haemophilia
Dr Andrew McDonald
Haemophilia; thrombophilia; stem cell transplantation
Dr Jessica Opie
Molecular biology of neoplasia: chronic myelogenous
leukaemia; coagulation abnormalities
Dr Karen Shires
Molecular biology and diagnostics
Dr Shaheen Mowla
Minimal residual disease and flow cytometry.
Mrs Rygana Abdulla
Cellular biology of neoplasia; clonogenic assays
Contact Details
Postal Address: 6th Floor, Chris Barnard Building, Anzio
Road, Observatory, 7925
Telephone: +27 21 406 6154/404 3073
Fax: +27 21 448 8607
E-mail: Coleen.Fredericks@uct.ac.za
Web : http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/haem/
Division of Human Genetics
(Including the MRC/UCT Human Genetics Research
Unit and Cansa’s National Colorectal Cancer Research
Consortium)
Head of Division: Professor Raj S. Ramesar
The Division is unusual in that it conducts its business
through three interacting ‘institutions’;
an extensive clinical service through the Provincial
Government of the Western Cape;its laboratory
diagnostic services through the National Health
Laboratory Services, and its academic (research and
teaching) activities through the University.
The UCT/MRC Human Genetics Research Unit
was created while the Human Genome Project was
underway. The mandate for this Unit was (i) primarily
one of capacity development in the field of Genetics
and Genomics, (ii) understanding the relevance of
developments in genetics and genomics, as they may
be applicable to South Africans, and (iii) the translation
of research to the clinical environment.
An emphasis of this Unit is the investment in understanding
the rich human diversity on our continent and relating this
to disease and health. In this regard there has been a
head-on engagement with state of the art high-throughput
genetic studies of indigenous southern African population
populations, which has resulted in the empowerment and
capacity development of South African researchers in large
scale data handling and analysis. This and other projects
involve fruitful collaborations with other Unit directors,
such as Professor Himla Soodyall, and colleagues in
bioinformatics in the National Bioinformatics node at UCT.
A further investment has been in taking genetics to
the ‘clinical’ high street. A measure of relevance and
success of the Unit in this regard, is its attraction to
other mainstream clinical practitioners e.g. from the
disciplines of Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Internal
Medicine, Psychiatry, Surgery, and Dentistry (UWC)
who are completing PhDs in genetics, in this Unit. A
substantial effort has been made into introducing
genetics/genomics into the undergraduate MBChB
curriculum and to specialist groups.