Dr. Analisse Cassar is a B.Sc. Biology & Chemistry (Hons) graduate but her interest in the medical research field drove her to pursue an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery where she now lectures anatomy and cell biology. Dr. Cassar is an associate member at the Centre of Molecular Medicine and Biobanking and is also a Director in the Stem Cell company De Novo Cell Ltd.

Analisse’s research is focused on Cancer and Regenerative therapy. Differentiation and proliferation have an inverse proportional relationship between them - where differentiated cells have minimal proliferative capacity, while undifferentiated cells replicate profusely. The main focus of Dr. Cassar’s research is to use natural products to force cancer cells to differentiate or mature, thus forcing them to lose their high replicative ability. This research has started from the differentiation of leukaemia (a blood cancer), but has now expanded to bone and neuronal cancers.
Another aspect of Analisse Cassar’s research is to modify the chromatin structure of cancer cells to make them more susceptible to already available treatments. The chemicals tested are already FDA-approved as medication for other conditions and therefore successful combinations may be fast-tracked for clinical trials.

Analisse also researches ways to expand and maintain stem cells and has successfully managed a project from TOSFA on advancing treatments for Wound Healing.

Dr. Analisse Cassar is currently leading four projects, is actively working towards a patent for the treatment of leukaemia, been involved in multiple COST Actions and is co-authoring a chapter about leukaemia stem cells in the book: Comprehensive Hematology and Stem Cell Research by Elsevier.