Dr Hussein Al-Ali

Hussein’s research focuses on assessing the efficacy of novel anti-cancer treatments and understanding their mechanisms. His is also developing sensitive assays to detect circulating tumour cells in cancer patients. Hussein is the Deputy Course Leader for MSc Applied Bioscience and is a member of the Cancer Biology Research Group.

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Background

Prior to joining ARU, Hussein held the position of a postdoctoral research fellow at Brunel University London, where he investigated the use of Imaging Flow Cytometry in identifying and enumerating circulating tumour cells in prostate cancer patients.

During his time at ARU, Hussein progressed to become a senior lecturer and a research group leader, collaborating with research institutions and pharmaceutical companies to evaluate the efficacy of anti-cancer treatments.

In 2024, he was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s award for Outstanding Research Impact for his role in advancing a novel anti-cancer antibody from ‘bench to bedside’ in under 5 years.

Spoken Languages

• English
• Arabic

Research interests

Cancer, Molecular Biology, Diagnostics, Therapeutic Antibodies, Cell Cycle, Flow Cytometry, Drug Testing, Mechanistic Studies, Proteomic Analysis.

Areas of research supervision

Cancer diagnostics; drug development and testing; antibody design and manufacture.

Teaching

• Co-Course Leader – MSc Applied Bioscience
• Module Leader – Molecular Genetics and Bioinformatics (L7)
• Module Leader – Undergraduate Project (L6)
• Module Leader – Group Tutorial in Biomedical and Molecular Science (L7)

Qualifications

• BSc Biomedical Sciences – Brunel University London
• PhD in Biomedical Science – Brunel University London
• PG Cert – Anglia Ruskin University

Memberships, editorial boards

• Fellow, Higher Education Academy
• Member, Royal Society of Biology

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

2024-Present: In-vitro evaluation of a novel anti-annexin-A1therapeutic (MDX-124) on DNA repair mechanisms. An Innovate UK sponsored AKTP (PI) £29,023

2023-2024: ATR1 as a target for anticancer therapy. A commercially sponsored pilot study research with aTen therapeutics Ltd (Co-I) £67,000

2023-2024: Proof of concept of a novel breast cancer therapeutic. Innovate UK grant with Medannex Ltd (Co-I) £95,000

2019-2020: Proof of concept of a novel colon cancer therapeutic. Innovate UK grant with Medannex Ltd (Co-I) £55,608

2019-2023: Determining the Mechanism of action of a therapeutic antibody Annexuzlimab in human cancer cells. Commercially sponsored research Medannex Ltd. (Co-I) £210,000

Selected recent publications

Al-Ali, H. N., Crichton, S. J., Fabian, C., Pepper, C., Butcher, D. R., Dempsey, F. C., & Parris, C. N. (2024). A therapeutic antibody targeting annexin-A1 inhibits cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Oncogene, 43(8), 608–614. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-023-02919-9

Bourton, E. C., Ahorner, P. A., Plowman, P. N., Zahir, S. A., Al-Ali, H., & Parris, C. N. (2017). The PARP-1 inhibitor Olaparib suppresses BRCA1 protein levels, increases apoptosis and causes radiation hypersensitivity in BRCA1+/- lymphoblastoid cells. Journal of Cancer, 8(19), 4048–4056. https://doi.org/10.7150/jca.21338

Parris, C. N., Adam Zahir, S., Al-Ali, H., Bourton, E. C., Plowman, C., & Plowman, P. N. (2015). Enhanced γ-H2AX DNA damage foci detection using multimagnification and extended depth of field in imaging flow cytometry. Cytometry. Part A: the journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology, 87(8), 717–723.