Sana Shabbir

Postdoctoral Research Associate - Comparative Oncology

Biography

Background

Sana Shabbir is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Edinburgh, working across the Institute of Genetics and Cancer and the Roslin Institute. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive cancer progression and translating these discoveries into clinically relevant biomarkers and therapeutic strategies. She completed her PhD in Cancer Research at the University of Edinburgh, where she investigated the role of tumour microenvironment-derived Interleukin-6 (IL-6) signalling in invasive lobular breast carcinoma, identifying mechanisms underlying tumour progression and endocrine therapy resistance.

Her current research centres on comparative oncology, using canine and human oral mucosal melanoma as a cross-species model to investigate tumour biology and improve patient stratification. She works in patient-derived organoid models, molecular pathology, spatial proteomics, transcriptomics, and translational cancer research. Dr. Shabbir has authored peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals, contributed publicly available genomic datasets, and presented her work at national and international scientific conferences.

Research summary

Dr. Shabbir's research integrates cancer biology, tumour immunology, comparative oncology, and translational medicine. Her work focuses on understanding how interactions between tumour cells and the tumour microenvironment regulate cancer progression, metastasis, immune evasion, and therapeutic response.

Her PhD research identified the role of cancer-associated fibroblast-derived IL-6/STAT3 signalling in promoting migration and dissemination in invasive lobular carcinoma, leading to a first-author publication in Breast Cancer Research. She also investigates collagen organisation as a prognostic biomarker in breast cancer and has generated publicly available RNA sequencing datasets to support the wider research community.

Currently, her research focuses on developing patient-derived organoid models from human and canine oral mucosal melanoma to investigate tumour heterogeneity and identify clinically relevant biomarkers through comparative genomics. Her expertise spans two-dimensional and three-dimensional cell culture systems, organoid technology, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, molecular biology, spatial proteomics (GeoMx), RNA sequencing, bioinformatics, and advanced imaging techniques. She has extensive experience analysing large clinical datasets and translating laboratory discoveries into clinically meaningful research outcomes.

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