Dr Brendah Keitumetse Masisi
About me
Dr Brendah Keitumetse Masisi is a highly motivated medical laboratory scientist, registered with Botswana Health Professional Council (BHPC) with over 10 years cumulative experience in clinical service, teaching, and biomedical research. I am experienced in clinical diagnostics, during which she developed expertise processing and analysing specimens for diagnostic purpose and monitoring of diseases within the clinical pathology. I am currently a Senior lecturer and researcher at the University of Botswana, where I am involved in teaching and supervising undergraduate and master’s students research projects.
I completed my doctoral training in breast cancer research at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, where I was affiliated with the Nottingham Breast Cancer Research Centre (NBCRC). I am the 2017 PEO fellow, a Southern African mentored research fellowship in Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) (Breast cancer project). Dr Masisi serves in various non-governmental organisations local and internationally which include Cancer Association of Botswana, African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM). In addition, I am a member of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), and the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC). Dr BK Masisi is also engaged in community activities in the country in line with her profession. She was recently appointed the GEMS2024 program mentor, a programme that mentor young girls in STEM, where I was appointed to mentor 6 girls who just completed high school and will be transition to university. I am currently leading a research project in breast cancer looking at Disparities between the African population, African Americans and white population, a projected funded my Precision Medicine for aggressive Breast cancer, a non- governmental organisation. I recently graduated from the WIPO Academy in the first cohort of Intellectual property Meister training for Researchers and innovators.
Degrees:
2. Keetile, M., Masisi, B., Lefadola, P. et al. Uptake and correlates of modern contraceptive use among women aged 15–49 years in Botswana; evidence from the Botswana demographic survey 2017. Contraception and Reproductive Medicine 10, 48 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40834-025-00386-z.
3. Patel, R., Alfarsi, L. H., El-Ansari, R., Masisi, B. K., Erkan, B., Fakroun, A., ... & Green, A. R. (2024). ATF4 as a prognostic marker and modulator of glutamine metabolism in oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Pathobiology, 91(6), 411-421.
4. Brendah K. Masisi, Rokaya El Ansari, Lutfi Alfarsi, Ali Fakroun, Busra Erkan, Asmaa Ibrahim, Michael Toss, Ian O. Ellis, Emad A. Rakha, and Andrew R. Green., 2024. Tripartite Motif-Containing 2, a Glutamine Metabolism-Associated Protein, Predicts Poor Patient Outcome in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treated with Chemotherapy. Cancers MDPI, 16(11), 1949; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16111949
5. Preyanka Nath, Lutfi H. Alfarsi, Rokaya El-Ansari, Brendah K, Masisi, Busra Erkan, Ali Fakroun, Ian O. Ellis, Emad A. Rakha, and Andrew R. Green., 2023. The amino acid transporter SLC7A11 expression in breast cancer. Cancer Biology and Therapy, https://doi.org/10.1080/15384047.2023.2291855
6. Brendah K. Masisi, Rokaya El Ansari, Lutfi Alfarsi, Madeleine L. Craze, Natasha Jewa, Andrew Oldfield, Hayley Cheung, Michael Toss, Emad A. Rakha, and Andrew R. Green.,2021. The Biological and Clinical Significance of Glutaminase in Luminal Breast Cancer. Cancers MDPI. 13(16), 3963; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13163963
7. Lutf H. Alfarsi, Rokaya El Ansari, Madeleine L. Craze, Omar J. Mohammed, Brendah K. Masisi, Ian O. Ellis, Emad A. Rakha, Andrew R. Green., 2021. SLC1A5 co-expression with TALDO1 associates with endocrine therapy failure in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 189:317–331 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-021-06298-1
8. Brendah K Masisi, Rokaya El Ansari, Lutfi Alfarsi, Emad A Rakha, Andrew R Green &Madeleine L Craze., 2020. The role of glutaminase in cancer. Histopathology, 76, 498–508. DOI: 10.1111/his.14014
9. Lutfi H. Alfarsi, Rokaya El-Ansari, Madeleine L. Craze, Brendah K. Masisi, Omar J. Mohammed, Ian O. Ellis, Emad A. Rakha, and Andrew R. Green., 2020. Co-Expression Effect of SLC7A5/SLC3A2 to Predict Response to Endocrine Therapy in Oestrogen-Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(4),1407; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21041407
10. Lutfi H. Alfarsi, Rokaya El Ansari, Madeleine L. Craze, Brendah K. Masisi, Ian O. Ellis, Emad A. Rakha, and Andrew R. Green.,2020. PPFIA1 expression associates with poor response to endocrine treatment in luminal breast cancer. BMC Cancer, 20:425 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-020-06939-6
11. Rokaya El Ansari, Lutf Alfarsi, Madeleine L. Craze, Brendah K. Masisi, Ian O. Ellis, Emad A. Rakha, Andrew R. Green., 2020. The solute carrier SLC7A8 is a marker of favourable prognosis in ER-positive low proliferative invasive breast cancer. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 181:1–12 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-020-05586-6
12. Lutfi H. Alfarsi, Rokaya El Ansari, Brendah K. Masisi, Ruth Parks, Omar J Mohammed, Ian O. Ellis, Emad A. Rakha and Andrew R. Green., 2020. Integrated Analysis of Key Differentially Expressed Genes Identifies DBN1 as a Predictive Marker of Response to Endocrine Therapy in Luminal Breast Cancer. Cancers MDPI, 12(6), 1549; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers12061549
13. Lutf H. Alfarsi, Rokaya El Ansari, Madeleine L. Craze, Michael S. Toss, Brendah K. Masisi, Ian O. Ellis, Emad A. Rakha, Andrew R. Green.,2019. CDC20 expression in oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer predicts poor prognosis and lack of response to endocrine therapy. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 178:535–544 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-019-05420-8
14. Madeleine L. Craze, Rokaya El-Ansari, Mohammed A. Aleskandarany, Kiu Wai Cheng, Lutfi Alfarsi, Brendah Masisi, Maria Diez-Rodriguez, Christopher C. Nolan, Ian O. Ellis, Emad A. Rakha, Andrew R. Green.,2019. Glutamate dehydrogenase (GLUD1) expression in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 174:79–91 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-018-5060-z