السيرة الذاتية
Address: Stem Cell Unit, Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine; King Saud University, Riyadh. Email: nalajez@ksu.edu.sa, nalajez@gmail.com.
Citizenship: Canadian
Areas of interest: Stem Cell Biology, microRNAs, Cancer Biology, Molecular Biology, Translational and Clinical Research, Cancer therapy.
Education
August 1999-December 2003
Ph.D. in Biomedical Science; Specialization: Tumour Immunology & Gene herapy
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA
August 1997-July 1999
Master’s degree in Biomedical Laboratory Science (Medical Technology); Specialization: Immunology; San Francisco State University and University of California-San Francisco, USA
October 1990-March 1995
Bachelor of Science Degree in Medical Technology (Laboratory Medicine)
Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine
employment history
2011-Present
Executive Director for Scientfic Affairs
Assistant Professor and Group Leader
Stem Cell Unit, Department of Anatomy, King Saud University, College of Medicine, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh,
I am currently appointed as the Executive Director for Scientific Affairs and leader of the Mesenchymal and Cancer Stem Cell research team at the stem cell unit, King Saud University College of Medicine/King Khalid University Hospital. My main duty is to oversee all research activities within the stem cell unit and to direct the research within the group and the stem cell unit. I am also involved in the logistics of running the unit. I Am responsible for obtaining research funding (so far has 3 funded grants ~ 1.5 million USD).
2005-2010
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Ontario Cancer Institute/ University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
2004
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Department of Immunology/Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
1999-2003
Graduate Student Researcher
Departments of Immunology/Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
1998-1999
Graduate Student Researcher
Department of Laboratory Medicine
University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
INVITED SPEAKER PRESENTATIONS
December 2012
Speaker at the Becton Dickinson Flow user meeting, Dubai, UAI.
Title: Lin28b Promotes Head and Neck Cancer Progression via Modulation of the Insulin-Like Growth Factor Survival Pathway.
April 2012
Keynote Speaker at the Placental Mesenchymal Stem Cell Workshop: From Characterization to Clinical Applications. King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, National Guard Hospital, Riyadh.
Title: Skin-derived Multipotent Stromal Cells are Capable of Differentiation into Endothelial-
Like Cells in vitro
November 2011
Oral presentation at the 2nd international conference on stem cells and regenerative medicine, KSU, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Title: microRNAs, Cancer, and Stem Cells.
Jan 2011
Oral presentation at Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Title: Regulation of gene Expression in Tumour Cells: From the Polycomb Genes to Non-Coding MicroRNAs.
May 2010
Oral presentation at the Translational Head and Neck Research Group, Princess Margaret
Hospital, Toronto, Canada.
Title: Regulation of the SLIT2/ROBO1 Signaling Pathway by miR-218: A possibleMechanism for Intracranial Invasion by Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
March 2009
Oral presentation at the Ontario Cancer Institution, Toronto, Canada
Title: The Importance of Enhancer of Zeste homologue 2 (EZH2) Expression in Human
Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and its Regulation by MicroRNAs"
June 2007
Oral Presentation at the annual Wharton/Elia day “Innovation in Treatment of Head and
Neck Cancer”, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Title: “The potential novel role for BMI1 in radio-resistance for nasopharyngeal cancer”
June 2006
Oral presentation at the annual Wharton/Elia day “Improving Outcome in Head and Neck Cancer”, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Title: The Potential Role of Mutant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) with Ionizing Radiation in Treatment of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.
March 2004
Oral presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research 95th annual meeting, Orlando, Florida, USA.
Title: “Tumor Rejection in Mice Reconstituted With BM Cells Engineered to Express Single-Chain T Cell Receptor Specific for the Tumor Antigen MUC1”.
May 2003
Oral and poster presentation at the American Association of Immunologist annual meeting, Denver, Colorado, USA.
Title: “MHC-unrestricted MUC1-specific T Cell Receptor for Cancer Immunotherapy”.
September 2002
Oral presentation at the DOD Era for Hope meeting on breast cancer research, Orlando, Florida, USA.
Title: “Cancer immunogenetherapy using MUC1-specific MHC-unrestricted TCR”.
Publications
Al-toubM, Almusa A, Almajed M, Al-Nbaheen M, Kassem M, Aldahmash A and Alajez NM. Pleiotropic effects of cancer cells’ secreted factors on human Stromal (mesenchymal) stem cells. Stem Cell Res Ther 2013, 4:114.
Alajez NM, Shi W, Wong D, Lenarduzzi M, Waldron J, Weinreb I, Liu FF. Lin28b Promotes Head and Neck Cancer Progression via Modulation of the Insulin-Like Growth Factor Survival Pathway. Oncotarget. 2012 Dec;3(12):1641-52.
How C, Hui ABY, Alajez NM et. al. microRNA-196b Regulates the Homeobox B7-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Axis in Cervical Cancer. PLoS One. 2013 Jul 4;8(7):e67846.
Lenarduzzi M, Hui AB, Alajez NM, Shi W, Williams J, Yue S, O'Sullivan B, Liu FF. MicroRNA-193b enhances tumor progression via down regulation of neurofibromin 1. PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e53765.
Alajez NM et. al. Enhanced Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSVdelta51) Targeting of Head and Neck Cancer in Combination with Radiation Therapy or ZD6126 Vascular Disrupting Agent. Cancer Cell Int. 2012 Jun 15;12(1):27.
Vishnubalaji R ,Manikandan M, Al-Nbaheen M, Kadalmani B, Aldahmash A, Alajez NM. In vitro differentiation of human skin-derived multipotent stromal cells into putative endothelial-like cells. BMC Dev Biol. 2012 Jan 27;12(1)7.
Alajez NM. Cancer Stem Cells. From Characterization to Therapeutic Implications. Saudi Med J. 2011 Dec;32(12):1229-34.
Hui AB, Bruce JP, Alajez NM, Shi W, Yue S, Perez-Ordonez B, Xu W, O'Sullivan B, Waldron J, Cummings B, Gullane P, Siu L, Liu FF. Significance of Dysregulated Metadherin and MicroRNA-375 in Head and Neck Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Dec 15;17(24):7539-50.
Alajez NM, Lenarduzzi M, Ito E, Hui ABY, Bruce J, Yue S, Ng R, Waldron J, O’Sullivan B, Liu FF. miR-218 Suppresses Nasopharyngeal Cancer Progressiomn through Downregulation of Survivin and the SLIT2-ROBO1 Pathway. Cancer Res. 2011 Mar 15;71(6):2381-91.
Shi W, Gerster K, Alajez NM, Tsang J, Waldron L, Pintilie M, Hui AB, Sykes J, P'ng C, Miller N, McCready D, Fyles A, Liu FF. MicroRNA-301 Mediates Proliferation and Invasion in Human Breast Cancer. Cancer Res. 2011 Apr 15;71(8):2926-2937.
Alajez NM, Wei Wang, Biswas D, Sutherland R, Pintilie M, Minden M, Messner H, Fyles A, Gospodarowicz M, Keating A, and Liu FF. The Effect of Local Breast Radiotherapy on Circulating CD34+ Cells. Radiother Oncol. 2011 Feb 11.
Alajez NM, Shi W, Hui ABY, Ito E, Bruce J, Yue S, Ng R, O’Sullivan B, Liu FF. Enhancer of Zeste Homologue 2 (EZH2) is Over-Expressed in Recurrent Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and is Regulated by miR-26a, miR-101, and miR-98. Cell Death Dis. 2010 Oct 21;1(10):e85.
Vlad RM, Hunt JW, Orlova V, Alajez NM, Ranieri S, Czarnota GJ, Kolios MC. An increase in cell size variance appears to explain part of the ultrasound backscatter increase measured during cell death. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2010 Sep;36(9):1546-58.
Ito E, Yue S, Moriyama EH, Hui ABY, Kim I, Shi W, Alajez NM, Bhogal N, Li GH, Datti A, Schimmer AD, Liu PP, Durocher D, Neel BG, O’Sullivan B, Cummings B, Bristow R, and Liu FF. Uroporphyrinogen Decarboxylase: A Novel Radiosensitizing Target for Solid Human Cancers Identified from an RNAi High-Throughput Screen. Science Translational Medicine 2011 Jan 26;3(67):67ra7.
Kato H, Ito E, Shi W, Alajez NM, Yue S, Lee C, Chan N, Bhogal N, Vines D, Green D, Waldron J, Gullane P, Bristow P, Liu F-F. Efficacy of Combining GMX1777 with Radiation Therapy for Human Head & Neck Carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2010 Feb 1;16(3):898-911. Epub 2010 Jan 26.
Alajez NM, Shi W, Hui ABY, Ng R, LO KW, Bastianutto C, O'Sullivan B, Gullane P, Liu FF. Targeted Depletion of BMI1 Sensitizes Tumour Cells to P53-Dependent Apoptosis in Response to Radiation Therapy. Cell Death Differ. 2009 Nov;16(11):1469-79.
Shi W, Alajez NM, Bastianutto C, Hui ABY, LO KW, Mocanu JD, Ito E, Busson P, LO KW, Ng R, Waldron J, O'Sullivan B, Liu FF. Significance of Plk1 regulation by miR-100 in human nasopharyngeal cancer. Int J Cancer. 2009 Sep 8.
SufanRI, Moryiama EH, Mariampillai A, Evans AJ, Alajez NM, Vitkin IA, Yang VXD, Liu FF, Wilson BC, and Ohh M. Oxygen-Independent Degradation of HIF-a Via Bioengineered VHL Tumour Suppressor Complex. EMBO Mol Med. 2009 Apr;1(1):66-78.
Hui ABY, Yue S, Shi W, Alajez NM, Ito E, Green SR, Frame S, Siu L, O’Sullivan B, Liu FF. Therapeutic Efficacy of Seliciclib in Combination with Ionizing Radiation for Human Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Jun 1;15(11):3716-24
Vlad RM, Alajez NM, Kolios MC, Czarnota GJ. Quantitative ultrasonic characterization of cancer radiotherapy effects in vitro. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008 Nov 15;72(4):1236-43.
Alajez NM, Mocanu JD, Shi W, Chia MC, Breitbach CJ, Hui ABY, Knowles S, Busson P, Takada K, LO KW, Bell JC, O'Sullivan B, Gullane P, and Liu FF. Efficacy of Systemically Adminsitered Mutant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSVD51) Combined with Radiation for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2008 Aug 1;14(15):4891-7.
Chia MC, Leung A, Krushel T, Alajez NM, Lo KW, Busson P, Mantovani R, Klamut HJ, Bastianutto C, Liu FF. Nuclear factor-Y and Epstein Barr virus in nasopharyngeal cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2008 Feb 15;14(4):984-94.
Bastianutto C, Mian A, Symes J, Mocanu J, Alajez NM, Sleep G, Shi W, Medin J, Keating A, Crump M, Minden M, Gospodarowicz M, Liu FF. Local Radiotherapy Induces Recruitment of Hematopoietic Stem Cells to the Irradiated Bone Marrow. Cancer Res. Nov 1, 2007; 67 (21).
Mocanu JD, Yip KW, Alajez MM, Shi W, Li JH, Lunt SJ, Moriyama EH, Wilson BC, Lo KW, Busson P, van Rooijen N, Bastianutto C, Liu FF. Imaging the Modulation of Kinetics and Biodistribution of Adenoviral Vectors for Cancer Gene Therapy. Mol Ther. 2007 May;15(5):921-9.
Alajez NM, Eghtesad S, and Finn OJ. Cloning and expression of membrane-bound and soluble chimeric T cell receptors for immunotherapy. J Biomed Biotechnol. 2006; 2006(2):68091.
Alajez NM, Schmielau J., Alter M., Cascio, M., Finn, O.J. Therapeutic potential of a tumor specific, MHC-unrestricted T Cell Receptor expressed on effector cells of the innate and adaptive immune systems through bone marrow transduction and immune reconstitution. Blood. 2005 Jun 15; 105(12):4583-9.
This article was featured on the cover of the June 15 issue of Blood.
Vlad A, Candelora-Kettel J, Alajez NM, Carlos CA, Finn OJ. MUC1 Immunobiology: from Discovery to Clinical Applications. Advances in Immunology. Volume 82, 2004, Pages 249-293.
BOOK CHAPTERS:
Al-Nbaheen M, VishnubalajiR, Abu Dawud R, Aldahmash A, Alajez NM.Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Cardiovascular Disease. Stem Cells: From Basic Research To Clinical Applications (In Press)
REviewing and Editing
I am currently an Academic Editor for PLoS ONE and a reviewer for several international journals such as BMC Cancer, Clinical Cancer Research, PLoS ONE, Oncogene, Clinical Oncology, EJOGRB, and Journal of Translational Medicine.
Finn, O.J , Alajez NM, Schmielau J., Alter M. THERAPEUTIC AND DIAGNOSTIC CLONED MHC-UNRESTRICTED RECEPTOR SPECIFIC FOR THE MUC1 TUMOR ASSOCIATED ANTIGEN. 2005.
GRANTS
The quest to characterize deregulated microRNA and mRNA Networks in1. ancer Stem Cells (CSCs) from Solid Tumours. 2012-2014)
Role: PI
Funding Agency: KACST, Saudi Arabia
Characterizing the Role of Non-Coding MicroRNAs in Regulating the Multipotent Differentiation Potential of Mesenchymal. 2013-2015
Role: PI
Funding Agency: KACST, Saudi Arabia
Dissecting the Role of Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) in Human Cancers (2012-2014
|
Dissecting the Role of Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) in Human Cancers (2012-2014) |
Role: PI
Funding Agency: KACST, Saudi Arabia.