Dr Hussein Al-Ali

Hussein’s research focuses on circulating tumour cells and the development of novel techniques to automate and enhance their detection. He also works with industrial collaborators, such as MedAnnex, aTen and LSG, on several projects in biomedical science. Hussein is a member of the Cancer Biology Research Group.

[email protected]

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Background

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

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

In 2024, he received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Research Impact for his role in advancing a novel anti-cancer antibody from ‘bench to bedside’.

Spoken Languages

• English
• Arabic

Research interests

• Cancer treatment
• Molecular biology
• Camber diagnostics
• Therapeutic antibodies
• Cell cycle
• Flow cytometry
• Mechanistic studies
• Machine learning

Areas of research supervision

• Cancer diagnostics
• Drug development and testing
• AI in cancer identification and detection

Current projects:

• Characterising ATN-E11 as an anti-cancer therapeutic
• The effect of MDX-124, a novel annexin-A1 targeted antibody, on DNA repair mechanisms in breast and pancreatic cancer
• The optimisation and development of CellShip® and CellSplit® as sustainable alternatives to traditional cell culture and transport reagents

Teaching

Courses

• MSc Applied Bioscience
• BSc Biomedical Sciences

Module leadership

• MOD002971: Molecular Genetics and Bioinformatics (L7)
• MOD007566: Group tutorials (L7)
• MOD002889: Current Advances in Biomedical Sciences (L6)

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
• Member, Faculty of Science and Engineering Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team (ARU)
• Member, Faculty of Science and Engineering Race Equality panel (ARU)

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• 2025-present: The optimisation of CellShip® and CellSplit® as sustainable alternatives to traditional cell culture and transport reagents. Innovate UK KTP. (PI) £262,752
• 2024-present: An investigation into the effect of a novel annexin-A1 targeted antibody (MDX-124) on DNA repair mechanisms in breast and pancreatic cancer. (PI) £35,000
• 2024-2025: Evaluating the effect of MDX-124 as a novel therapeutic in Osteosarcoma. An Innovate UK grant. (Co-I) £96,087
• 2024: 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 project 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

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.