Dr Nabil Hajji
Dr Nabil Hajji’s was appointed to the Centre as a Lecturer in Toxicology in October 2008. He got his PhD in molecular and cell biology at Seville University. He held his first postdoctoral appointment at Macarena hospital, Seville. Subsequently, he held postdoctoral appointments at the Karoinska institute in Stockholm, Sweden, at the Institute of Cancer Studies at Birmingham University and at the Centre for Cutaneous Research at the Institute of Cell and Molecular Science at Barts and the London.
Dr Nabil Hajji’s research area of interest and expertise includes different aspects of epigenetic alterations as biomarkers of exposure to toxicants and disease risk. He explores the epigenetic pathways that are involved in chemical-induced diseases. Identification of new potential biomarkers at the early phases of tumorogenesis as important tools for disease progression diagnostic and preventive treatment designs. He also investigates the relationship between environmental toxins inducing mitochondrial ROS generation, alteration of Histone acetylation and modulations of a specific set of genes that disturb mitochondrial function during neurodegeneration. He has further expertise in the evaluation of molecular mechanisms underlying epigenetic alteration induced by heavy metals and understanding their toxic effects and carcinogenic properties.
Epigenetic alterations, biomarkers and disease risk
Epigenetic control of programmed cell death
Growing experimental evidence suggests that neoplastic transformation, characterized by altered patterns of cell death, does not necessarily destroy the potential that cells have to undergo apoptosis under appropriate environmental conditions. Various chemical agents can restore this potential, and these possibilities are currently being exploited in attempts to develop anticancer therapies using such agents. Among the most effective of these are histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors.Histone acetylation and deacetylation play important roles in the modulation of chromatin topology and the regulation of gene transcription. HDAC inhibition induces the accumulation of hyperacetylated nucleosome core histones in most regions of chromatin but affects the expression of only a small subset of genes, leading to transcriptional activation of some genes, but repression of an equal or larger number of other genes.
Our aim as well is to investigate in the model of multidrug-resistance cell lines the effect of HDACs inhibition on activation and/or efficiency of the different apoptotic signaling pathways.
PhD student and Postdoctoral positions
If you are interested in applying for your own fellowship to work within our group, you should contact Dr Hajji Nabil n.hajji@imperial.ac.uk. Candidates from any part of the world who are suitably qualified will receive help to prepare a high quality funding application.
