Dr. Nehad Alajez | Hamad Bin Khalifa University
Hamad Bin Khalifa University

FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES

Dr. Nehad Alajez

Dr. Nehad Alajez


Principal Investigator
Translational Oncology Research Center
Qatar Biomedical Research Institute

College of Health and Life Sciences

Biography

Dr. Nehad Alajez earned his PhD in tumour immunology from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in USA, and subsequently completed his post-doctoral training at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center (University Health Network), a premier cancer research institute in Canada. His main research interest is to investigate the role of the Polycomb gene family and non-coding microRNAs in driving cancer progression and their potential utilization for targeted therapies. Dr. Alajez is a recipient of several prestigious awards and has published more than 100 articles in top-tier ISI-indexed journals including Blood, Cancer Research, Cell Death and Differentiation, Cell Death and Disease, Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, Molecular Therapy (family journals), EMBO Molecular Medicine, and in Science Translational Medicine. Dr. Alajez currently has close to 5000 citations and an h-index of 35 and i10-index of 74.

Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Alajez was appointed as the Associate Professor at King Saud University College of Medicine, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dr. Alajez’s main research interests are focused on ‘translational oncology research’ with main emphasis on novel biomarker discovery and targeted therapeutics for breast cancers. In particular, Dr. Alajez’s team is studying noncoding RNAs (micoRNAs and lncRNAs) as disease and predictive biomarkers for patients’ response to therapy. Dr. Alajez has strong expertise in transcriptome analysis, noncoding RNAs, and biomarker discovery field and is currently ranked among the top 2% most cited scientist globally. He is a recipient of several major grants, including funding from Qatar National Research Fund, in addition to his editorial roles on several journals.

 


Research Interests

Dr. Alajez main research interests are focused on precision medicine aiming at the discovery of novel tumour and circulating biomarkers for breast cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy. Additionally, Dr. Alajez’s group is conducting CRISPR-Cas9 genomic screens to elucidate the role of miRNAs and lncRNAs in driving breast cancer survival and resistance to standard therapies.

  • Identification of molecular signatures predictive of pathological complete response to neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer.
  • Identification of circulating miRNAs as diagnostic and predictive biomarkers for breast cancer.
  • Transcriptomic profiling of breast cancer for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic applications.
  • CRISPR-Cas9 genomic screen to identify novel therapeutic vulnerabilities in breast cancer.

Experience

Principal Investigator

Translational Oncology Research Center, Qatar Biomedical Research Institute

2022 - Present
  • Senior Scientist

    Translational Cancer and Immunity Center, Qatar Biomedical Research Institute

    2018 - 2022
  • Associate Professor

    College of Medicine, King Saud University

    2015 - 2018
  • Assistant Professor

    College of Medicine, King Saud University

    2011 - 2015

Education

PhD

University of Pittsburgh, USA

2003
  • MSc

    San Francisco State University, USA

    1999
  • BSc

    Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine

    1995

Selected Publications