Ali Abdullah Alshatwi

My current research focus on molecular cancer biology, particularly the nutrient regulation of gene expression and expression of MicroRNA related to cell death (apoptosis and necrosis). Over the past several years, I have been studying cancer and cancer-related processes with a focus on in vitro approaches. I have been investigating the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in cancer as well as other aspects of tumor development. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are recently discovered class of small noncoding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate the expression of target mRNA transcripts. Many miRNAs target mRNAs involved in processes aberrant in tumorigenesis, such as proliferation, survival, and differentiation. While previous work has shown a global decrease of mature miRNA expression in human cancers, it is unclear whether this global repression of miRNAs reflects the undifferentiated state of tumors or causally contributes to the transformed phenotype. Cancer cells expressing short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) targeting three different components of the miRNA processing machinery showed a substantial decrease in steady-state miRNA levels and a more pronounced transformed phenotype. A second area of interest is to study single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in breast cancer and diabetic patients in Saudi population, which may help to develop prognostic and diagnostic markers for breast cancer. Significant results encourage us to aim our research towards Pharmacogenomics, and development of nutraceuticals. I am also studying the influence of nano-foods on cancer in mammalian cells, e.g. the influence of food and nano-materials in food with bioactivities on cell cycle modulation and other cellular physiological mechanism, on tumor suppressor genes in cancer and normal human cells. I have published more than 50 research publications in highly cited journals, and have strong links with various industry members and public sectors to his credits.