Rate My Professor Gabi Dachs

Professor Gabi Dachs is a professor in the Department of Pathology and Biomedical Science at the University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Faculty of Medicine. She completed her BSc and PhD at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Following her doctoral studies, she conducted postdoctoral research at the Medical Research Council Harwell in the United Kingdom and served as a senior scientist at the Gray Cancer Institute in London. She joined the University of Otago Christchurch, where she progressed to Research Associate Professor in 2015 and full Professor in 2023. Dachs is a principal investigator in the Mackenzie Cancer Research Group, focusing on mechanisms that render human tumours resistant to treatment and exploring novel therapeutic strategies. Her research investigates the role of vitamin C, or ascorbate, in dampening the activity of the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor HIF-1, assessing whether vitamin C can reduce tumour growth in mouse models, and examining the relationship between ascorbate levels and HIF-1 in kidney cancer patient tumours. Additional interests include obesity-associated molecular factors influencing cancer outcomes and chemotherapy response, as well as human enzymes activating novel anticancer prodrugs in collaboration with the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre. She also studies improvements to gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy for targeting solid tumours and their vasculature.