Following my doctorate studies at Erasmus Medical Centre, the Netherlands (graduated in 2007, March 7th), I started an academic position at the University of Malta. The doctoral work on the Molecular Control of Leukemia was published in 2 high quality journals (Blazquez-Domingo, Grech, & von Lindern, 2005; Grech, et al., 2008) and presented in International conferences including the American Society of Hematology and the European Haematology Association. Presently, I am Associate Professor at the Department of Pathology with 11 years' experience coordinating a Master programme and lecturing in the area of Molecular Pathology. In 2010, I set up the Molecular Oncology laboratory. The research team under my headship, was successful and achieved: (1) submission of the patent GB1704536.0, entitled “Novel Biomarkers predicting sensitivity to PP2A activators in Cancerâ€, (2) submission of the patent P6447GB, to protect the optimised technology and molecular classifiers of Breast Cancer, (3) publications in high quality, peer-reviewed journals, including 7 as first author or corresponding author, 2 first author reviews, 3 first author book chapters and 25 as contributing author, (4) presentation of our findings at various prestigious conferences with more than 90 conference proceedings, and (5) international grant AWARD from Luminex Corporation to publish a video method article entitled “Optimisation of a multiplex RNA-based Expression Assay using Breast Cancer archival material†in the Journal of Visualised Experiments (JoVE). Personal achievements include, (1) co-editor of the book entitled, “Preventive and Predictive Genetics: Towards Personalised Medicine†published in 2015, (2) invited by Thermo Fisher Scientific to deliver the webinar entitled, “The power of multiplexing and applications of the QuantiGene Plex Assay in oncology research and diagnosticsâ€, webcasted Nov 07, 2017, and (3) invited by Luminex corporation to present the innovative assays at xMAP connect meetings in Amsterdam, Beijing and Shanghai. I contribute to international scientific committees including the International Scientific Council of the European Group for Molecular Pathology (EMP); member of the Pharmacogenomics Working Group of the Global Genomic Medicine Consortium (G2MC); and the European Association for Predictive, Preventive & Personalised medicine (EPMA).
• OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS 1. Co-editor of Book entitled Preventive and Predictive Genetics: Towards Personalised Medicine. 2015 edited by Godfrey Grech, Iris Grossman, 06/2015; Springer Publications., ISBN: ISBN 978-3-319-15343-8 2. Filed patent GB1704536.0, entitled “Novel Biomarkers predicting sensitivity to PP2A activators in Cancer†3. Filed patent (MALBD/P64447GB), entitled “Optimisation of a multiplex RNA- based Expression Assay to molecular classify Breast Cancer patients†4. Presented Webinar part of the Protein and Cell Analysis Education Series, entitled “The power of multiplexing and applications of the QuantiGene Plex Assay in oncology research and diagnosticsâ€, sponsored by Thermo Fisher. 5. https://www.um.edu.mt/newspoint/news/features/2018/01/cuttingedgeresearchbybreastcancerresearchgroup
• COMMISSIONS OF TRUST 2017 Evaluator, H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, European Commission 2014, 2016 Evaluator, Czech Health Research Council, Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic 2018 Scientific Evaluation, PhD Clinical Physiopathology, University of Pisa, Italy 2016 – Member of Board of Directors, Global Standard 1 (GS1), Healthcare Division 2016 – Director, Biotech Innovations Ltd (spin out company), UM, Malta 2015 – Associate Editor, the EPMA Journal, BMC Springer 2014 – Scientific Advisory Board, European Association of Preventive, Predictive and Personalised Medicine (EPMA) 2014 – Reviewer, Journals (Plos, Tumour Biology, Oncotarget, Anticancer drugs, EPMA Journal)
• MAJOR COLLABORATIONS 1.Prof Andrew M Hanby & Prof Valerie Spiers, Leeds Institute of Cancer and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, UK 2.Prof Thomas A Hughes, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, UK 3.Prof Carlos Caldas & Dr Alejandra Bruna Cabot, Cancer Research UK, Cambridge University, UK 4.Prof David Harrison, School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, Scotland 5.Dr Markus Templin, Natural and Medical Sciences Institute, University of Tuebingen, Germany 6.Prof Natarajan Muthusamy, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University, US
[1-3: Breast Cancer research; 4: Colorectal Cancer Research; 5: Technology; 6: drug development]
