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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 479 2785
Email
cath.drummond@otago.ac.nz

University Links

Position
Research Fellow
Department
Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine (Dunedin)
Qualifications
BSc(Hons) PhD
Research summary
The emergence of drug tolerant persistors in response to targeted cancer therapy
Teaching
  • Research Student Supervision: PGDip MLSc and PhD candidates
  • Tutor for ELM2 (clinical pathology) and PSCI 202 (Medicines and Disease)
  • Guest lecturer for PATH 302
Memberships
  • Associate Member, American Association for Cancer Research 2016 to present
  • Associate Investigator, Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Discovery (MWC) 2019 to present

Research

My research programme is focused on two main areas.

Understanding the phenomenon of drug tolerance in cancer

Many melanoma and lung cancer patients frequently show dramatic responses when treated with targeted therapies (kinase inhibitors). Unfortunately, these responses are short-lived and patients relapse with resistant tumours. Together with Dr Glen Reid, I am investigating the ability of cancer cells to shift to drug-tolerant states, allowing their initial survival – and eventual resistance – following treatment with targeted therapies. This work is funded by a Marsden project grant.

Identifying small molecule inhibitors of p53 variants

Despite oncogenic p53 variants being reported in multiple tumour types, there are no known inhibitors of p53 variants. In addition, little is known about their regulation and therefore how to inhibit their activity. Together with Professor Antony Braithwaite I am investigating how to inhibit these oncogenic variants of p53. This work is funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand.

Additional details

There are several research projects available, ranging from honours and master’s to PhD. Interested graduate and postgraduate students are encouraged to make contact to further discuss these projects.

  1. Too much of a good thing? A potential role for untranslated p53 mRNA in cancer biology. Level: honours / master’s
  2. A phoenix from the ashes: The role of dying cancer cells in the emergence of drug tolerance. Level: honours / master’s
  3. Inhibiting adaptive mutability to prevent the emergence of drug resistance. Level: honours / master’s
  4. The impact of KRAS expression levels on the emergence of drug tolerance in lung cancer. Level: honours / master’s

Publications

Sarkar, D., Gyanwali, G. C., Patel, J., Shevchuk, P., Jeffs, A., Woolley, A. G., Wang, S., Sardari, M., Bhandarkar, A., Siddiqui, H., Ratajska, M., Sarwar, M., … Drummond, C. J., McKinney, C., Antony, J., McCormick, S. P., Braithwaite, A., & Mehta, S. (2026). TP53 mutation at codon 179 metabolically reprograms cancer cells to promote invasion. Cancer Gene Therapy. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1038/s41417-026-01045-4 Journal - Research Article

Carpenter, C., Simmons, N., Davis, W. J. H., Thompson, M., van Zandwijk, N., Drummond, C. J., & Reid, G. (2026). MicroRNA mimics based on the miR-15/107 consensus sequence sensitise NSCLC cells to targeted therapy. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 27(6), 2701. doi: 10.3390/ijms27062701 Journal - Research Article

Polwatta Lekamlage, S., Boix De Jesus, A. N., Machado Saraiva, A., Drummond, C., Dolan, H., March de Ribot, F., Royds, J. A., Mehta, S., Braithwaite, A. W., Hung, N. A., & Slatter, T. L. (2025). Δ133p53 isoform enhances TLR4 function to promote tumour growth. Carcinogenesis, 46(4), bgaf051. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgaf051 Journal - Research Article

Thompson, M. K., Drummond, C. J., & Reid, G. (2024, August-September). Reduce, reuse, recycle: Drug repurposing to combat drug tolerant persisters. Verbal presentation at the Queenstown Research Week (QRW) Cancer Meeting, Queenstown, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Davis, W. J. H., Drummond, C. J., Gimenez, G., Rodger, E., Chatterjee, A., & Reid, G. (2024, August-September). A dark matter: The lncRNA MALAT1 contributes to the transition from drug tolerance to drug resistance in lung adenocarcinoma. Verbal presentation at the Queenstown Research Week (QRW) Cancer Meeting, Queenstown, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

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