Dr. Hibah Shaath

Senior Research Associate

Email

hshaath@hbku.edu.qa

Dr. Hibah Shaath

Senior Research Associate

Educational Qualifications

PhD Biomedical and Biological Sciences

MRes Genetic Medicine

Entity

Qatar Biomedical Research Institute

Division

Translational Oncology Research Center

Biography

Dr. Hibah Shaath obtained her Bachelor of Science (Hons) and Master of Research (MRes) degrees in Genetics and Genetic Medicine from the University of Manchester. The focus of her MRes was the biomolecular characterization of Keratoconic corneas associated with transplant rejection. In 2013 she moved to Qatar and joined Shafallah Medical Genetics Center, where her main focus was identifying candidate genes with novel mutations associated with both Mendelian hereditary disease and ASD, through homozygosity mapping and family screening, presented in several posters at ARC’13 and ARC’14. In 2014, Dr. Shaath joined QBRI to work as a Research Associate in the Translational Oncology Research Center. In 2022, she completed her PhD in Biomedical and Biological Sciences from the College of Health and Life Sciences (CHLS) at HBKU under the supervision of Dr. Nehad Alajez. Her research focus is on the transcriptional landscape of colorectal cancer and breast cancer for novel biomarker discovery and targeted therapy. Her research was selected for oral presentation at the first Advances in Precision Medicine (APM 2021) conference at HBKU, and in 2022; her poster was selected for Best Poster Award in the student category as the third place winner at HBKU Research Day.

 

PhD Biomedical and Biological Sciences

College of Health and Life Sciences

September 2017 - June 2022

MRes Genetic Medicine

The University of Manchester

September 2011 - September 2012

BSc (Honors) Genetics

The University of Manchester

September 2007 - June 2010

Research Associate

Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI) - Doha, Qatar

June 2014 - Present

Research Associate

Shafallah Medical Genetics Center- Doha, Qatar

January 2013 - June 2014

Shaath H, Vishnubalaji R, Elango R, Kardousha A, Islam Z, Qureshi R, Alam T, Kolatkar PR, Alajez NM (2022). Long non-coding RNA and RNA-binding protein interactions in cancer: Experimental and machine learning approaches. Semin Cancer Biol. 25:S1044-579X(22)00124-9.

Elango, R., Vishnubalaji, R., Shaath, H., & Alajez, N. M. (2021). Transcriptional alterations of protein coding and noncoding RNAs in triple negative breast cancer in response to DNA methyltransferases inhibition. Cancer cell international, 21(1), 515.

Shaath, H., Elango, R., & Alajez, N. M. (2021). Molecular Classification of Breast Cancer Utilizing Long Non-Coding RNA (lncRNA) Transcriptomes Identifies Novel Diagnostic lncRNA Panel for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. Cancers, 13(21), 5350.

Shaath H, Toor SM, Nada MA, Elkord E, Alajez NM (2021). Integrated whole transcriptome and small RNA analysis revealed multiple regulatory networks in colorectal cancer. Sci Rep. 11(1): p. 14456.

Shaath, H. and N.M. Alajez (2021). Identification of PBMC-based molecular signature associated with COVID-19 disease severity. Heliyon. 7(5): p. e06866.

Elango R, Vishnubalaji R, Shaath H, Alajez NM (2021). Molecular subtyping and functional validation of TTK, TPX2, UBE2C, and LRP8 in sensitivity of TNBC to paclitaxel. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 20: p. 601-614.

Shaath H, Vishnubalaji R, Elango R, Khattak S, Alajez NM. Single-cell long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) transcriptome implicates MALAT1 in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Cell Death Discov. 2021 Jan 25;7(1):23. doi: 10.1038/s41420-020-00383-y. PMID: 33495450; PMCID: PMC7835365.

Shaath, H., R. Vishnubalaji, E. Elkord and N. M. Alajez (2020). "Single-Cell Transcriptome Analysis Highlights a Role for Neutrophils and Inflammatory Macrophages in the Pathogenesis of Severe COVID-19." Cells 9(11).

H. Shaath, and N.M. Alajez, Computational and Transcriptome Analyses Revealed Preferential Induction of Chemotaxis and Lipid Synthesis by SARS-CoV-2. Biology, 2020, 9, 260.

Vishnubalaji, R., H. Shaath, and N.M. Alajez, Protein Coding and Long Noncoding RNA (lncRNA) Transcriptional Landscape in SARS-CoV-2 Infected Bronchial Epithelial Cells Highlight a Role for Interferon and Inflammatory Response. Genes (Basel), 2020. 11(7).

Thomas, R., Shaath, H., Naik, A., Toor, S., Elkord, E. and Decock, J., 2020. Identification of two HLA-A*0201 immunogenic epitopes of lactate dehydrogenase C (LDHC): potential novel targets for cancer immunotherapy. Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy, 69(3), pp.449-463.

Shaath, H., Toor, S., Nair, V., Elkord, E. and Alajez, N., 2019. Transcriptomic Analyses Revealed Systemic Alterations in Gene Expression in Circulation and Tumor Microenvironment of Colorectal Cancer Patients. Cancers, 11(12), p.1994.

Vishnubalaji, R., Shaath, H., Elango, R. and Alajez, N., 2019. Noncoding RNAs as potential mediators of resistance to cancer immunotherapy. Seminars in Cancer Biology.

Vishnubalaji, R., Shaath, H., Elkord, E. and Alajez, N., 2019. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) transcriptional landscape in breast cancer identifies LINC01614 as a non-favorable prognostic biomarker regulated by TGFβ and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) signaling. Cell Death Discovery, 5(1).

Elashi, A., Sasidharan Nair, V., Taha, R., Shaath, H. and Elkord, E., 2018. DNA methylation of immune checkpoints in the peripheral blood of breast and colorectal cancer patients. OncoImmunology, 8(2), p.e1542918.

Sasidharan Nair, V., Toor, S., Taha, R., Shaath, H. and Elkord, E., 2018. DNA methylation and repressive histones in the promoters of PD-1, CTLA-4, TIM-3, LAG-3, TIGIT, PD-L1, and galectin-9 genes in human colorectal cancer. Clinical Epigenetics, 10(1).

Lepelletier, C., Al-Sarraj, Y., Bodemer, C., Shaath, H., Fraitag, S., Kambouris, M., Hamel-Teillac, D., Shanti, H. and Hadj-Rabia, S., 2017. Heterozygous PDGFRB Mutation in a Three-generation Family with Autosomal Dominant Infantile Myofibromatosis. Acta Dermato Venereologica, 97(7), pp.858-859.

  • HBKU Research Day: Best Poster Award, Student Category; third place winner for poster on Therapeutic targeting for Colorectal Cancer: Toward Precision Medicine
  • Abstract chosen for oral presentation at the first Advances in Precision Medicine (APM 2021) conference at HBKU: Single-cell long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) transcriptome implicates MALAT1 in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy