Academic staff

I am Professor of Biomedical Science, I established and directing the Biomedical Science programme and leading the Cancer Biology and Therapy research group. I joined LSBU in 2018 having previously worked as Research Associate Professor at the University of Arizona College-of-Medicine-Phoenix and the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Phoenix Children's Hospital. I led research on precision medicine in paediatric leukemia. I was a senior researcher at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden and a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute, USA working on novel functions of the IGF-1R in cancer and stem cells, and on in vivo functions of cell cycle regulators.

My research interests are the identification of molecular drivers and novel targeted therapeutics in cancer, the identification of hypoxia-induced drug resistance in acute myeloid leukemia, and identification of novel functional partners for the nuclear IGF-1R in cancer. The goal of my research is to advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying cancer development and progression, and cancer drug resistance. I have published over 40 articles in the field.

I have recently established and leading the Cancer Biology and Therapy research group that includes 3 PhD scientists with focus in cancer molecular biology, molecular docking, epigenetics, and bioinformatics, 3 postgraduate students and one part time technical assistant. We are hosting national and international placement students and interns.

The mission of my research group is to contribute to the discoveries that lead to combat cancer, such as understanding the mechanisms of cancer development, metastasis, and the discovery of novel “druggable” targets to apply in refractory/resistant cancer types. We are working on fostering interdisciplinary academic and industrial collaborations and to train the next generation of cancer researchers. With a generous fund from LSBU I was able to equip the lab with instruments for high-throughput drug screening, high content imaging, flow cytometry, Real-time QPCR and basic molecular biology instruments.

Through grants funded by the Children Cancer Network, Phoenix Children’s Leadership Circle grant, USA, and the European Commission and the Swedish Research Links, EU, my projects were on the investigation of how hypoxia alters drug response in acute myeloid leukemia, the development of a 3D bone-marrow microenvironment mimicking cell culture model to better predict drug response in leukemia, and on novel functional interactions of the nuclear form of IGF-1 receptor in cancer. I apply a variety of technologies including next-generation sequencing, functional proteomics, in vitro 3D cell culture models.

I am currently the director of studies for 3 PhD students working on the interaction of IGF-1R with Immune checkpoint inhibition in cancer, the nuclear IGF-1R in cancer, and the microbiome in health and disease. The last topic is in collaboration with Weil-Cornel Qatar University.

My external activities include editorial board memberships; I am Associate editor for Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, Cell Growth Section (IF 6.081) and a member of the Editorial boards of the Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research (IF:12.658) and Cancers (IF 6.102). I am also an external PhD examiner for international universities, and an international assessor for academic promotions.

Courses taught

Biomedical Sciences - BSc (Hons)

BSc (Hons) Bioscience 2022/23

Postgraduate Research Supervision

Current