Expertise: Molecular biology, Biochemistry

Takundwa joined the CSIR in 2022 and was appointed as a senior researcher in the Synthetic Biology and Precision Medicine Centre, where she investigates cancer dynamics using genomics, spatial biology, chemical biology and bioinformatic approaches.

She has experience in biotechnology sectors spanning academia, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics as well as research and development. She is part of a team establishing an African Cancer Precision Medicine platform and has recently been recognised as an African Cancer Leadership Institute (ACLI) fellow and a recipient of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Global Scholar-in-Training Award (GSITA). She leverages expertise in biochemistry, cell and molecular biology, biotechnology and project management, attained through her professional experience and formal training for an array of projects.

Her interests are biomedical research as well as industrial biotechnology using genetic engineering, examining responses to clinical treatments and investigating metabolite pathways and the genetics of ancestry for personalised medicine approaches in underserved communities. As a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Cape Town, she gained experience in a clinical setting at Groote Schuur Hospital-UCT Lung Institute, focusing on Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) markers in TB/HIV patients, and their relevance in the African context. She was also involved in the response to the Covid pandemic in 2020 by joining Hamadi Labs, setting up a diagnostic operation for molecular assays. In 2021, she joined the reagent manufacturing and pharmaceutical giant, Roche, in Quality Control as an analyst, ramping up production to meet global demand for reagents in the supply chain. In her role as a CSIR senior researcher, she is leading the cancer precision medicine initiative [at the CISR] focused on blood and gynaecologic cancers with the outlook to extend the drug sensitivity testing platform to other cancers of concern in South Africa and the broader African context. She is a member and deputy chair of the University of Zululand Advisory Committee for the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology Science, as well as a fellow in various stakeholder engagements within the research and innovation ecosystem, including the following: American Association of Cancer Research’s (AACR) Global Scholar-in-Training Awards (GSITA); African Cancer Leaders Institute (ACLI); Zimbabwe Young Academy of Sciences Fellow (ZIMYAS) 2022-2027; Black Women in Science Fellow (2023-2024) BWIS-DSI-South Africa chapter; Organization for Women in Science in the Developing World Fellow (OWSD); Biochemical Society early career member and the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) member.