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Wolfson Institute of Population Health
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Dr Belinda Nedjai

Belinda

Reader in Cancer Biomarker and Epigenetics and Director of the Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory

Email: b.nedjai@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: 020 7882 7893

Profile

As Reader in Cancer Biomarker and Epigenetics and Director of the Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory, I lead the Molecular Epidemiology (MEL) research team.  I hold a PhD in genetics and functional genomics from Queen Mary, Bart’s and The London School of Medicine, and a Masters degree in cellular and molecular physiopathology, obtained from University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI) in Paris, France. The combination of strong research background in functional genomics and inflammation with 5 years of strategy consulting as Head of genetics for GeneU, a start-up company, has given me unique insight into the commercial applications of next generation sequencing technologies. I conducted research for 8 years at Imperial College London as a post-doctoral researcher and then Research Fellow. Through the years, I developed an extensive knowledge in functional genomics and the functional consequences of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on various inflammatory disorders with strong inflammatory components. At Imperial I successfully managed to spin out a company from one of my research project: GeneU. I then spent 5 years at GeneU as head of genetic research where I created a relationship database merging genomics data with observational data (lifestyle) and biomarkers to recommend specific ingredients to relieve inflammation in skin cancer patients and healthy participants. I patented my concept (UK patent GB20110021917). This project merged genetics and epidemiologic knowledge with bioengineering to identify biomarkers.

I joined Queen Mary University originally as a Senior Research Fellow; I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2020 and then Reader in 2022. My primary research focus is the application of novel quantitative technologies for discovery and validation of prognostic DNA methylation biomarkers. My main aim is to identify and develop cost-effective tests for the diagnosis of prostate, breast, colorectal and cervical cancer, and the prediction of outcomes in cancer patients. Recent successes include improved methods to triage women infected by papillomavirus. Our classifier combining DNA methylation of HPV and human genes is a strong contender to triage women infected by carcinogenic HPV.  We also developed a 6 gene methylation classifier to improve the management of men diagnosed with prostate cancer but placed on active surveillance.

Future research will include discovery of biomarkers for early detection of epithelial cancer using a pan-cancer approach. We have already identified a few methylation biomarkers able to predict cancer at an early stage in several epithelial cancers. We aim to improve our classifiers using our multi-omics NGS approach.  Another aim would be to refine such biomarkers in various ethnic groups to increase the early detection potential.

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