About

I am a senior lecturer of biomedical science, within the School of Human Sciences. I currently lead the undergraduate programmes of BSc in Biomedical Science and BSc in Biomedical Health. In these programs, student-focused curricula are taught with a specific emphasis to enhance graduate employability.

I am a Doctor of Medicine and a trained Diagnostic Surgical Pathologist and joined the University of Derby after completing more than two decades in higher education institutions within the UK and Egypt.

My teaching within the modules I lead, and deliver is focussed mainly on enhancing student engagement via active learning strategies, hands-on practical sessions, and research informed course content to improve students’ learning outcomes. These have been furthered by my expertise in diagnostic surgical pathology and my postgraduate qualification in medical education.  

Teaching responsibilities

I have over two decades of experience in medical education and pathology teaching to undergraduate and postgraduate medical, nursing, and biomedical students, where he led the design, delivery, and assessments of taught curricula and programs.

In my teaching, I focus on blended learning activities using the enquiry-based learning, including yet not limited to, case-based, problem-based, and team-based learning to nurture students’ problem-solving skills, and teamworking.   

I am module leader for Cellular Pathology and teach on different modules on Biomedical Science, Biomedical Health, and Forensic Science. 

Research interests

I have a successful research career, focusing on pathology of cancers, mainly breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and malignant melanomas. After finishing my Master in Pathology, I pursued my PhD in Nottingham Breast pathology Research Group, in molecular pathology of breast cancer progression. I studied, through a wide array of molecular methods and data analysis, the biomarkers of adverse clinical outcome.

The main objectives of my research are to advance the knowledge and understanding of cancer progression and to improve cancer patients’ management through translational research utilising histological methods and state-of-the-art molecular and data analysis techniques and approaches. The route to achieve this is through utilising my clinical expertise as a diagnostic surgical pathologist and my wide network of collaborations.

My research interests include multidisciplinary cancer translational research to devise novel practice-changing biomarkers of adverse clinical outcome and to refine the currently used prognostic and predictive markers to help improve patients' managements in routine clinical practice.

My research output includes over eighty articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals and book chapters covering mainly breast cancer prognostic and predictive factors. My work has also been presented at National and international experts’ pathology and oncology conferences. 

Membership of professional bodies

• Pathological Society of Great Britain & Ireland
• European Society of Pathology
• Affiliate member of the Nottingham Breast Cancer Research Centre
• Egyptian Society of Pathologists

Qualifications

• PgCert in Medical Education, School of Medicine, University of Central Lancashire, UK
• PhD in Pathology, School of Molecular Medical Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK
• MD in Pathology, Supreme Council of Egyptian Universities, Egypt
• MSc in Pathology (Distinction), Faculty of Medicine, Menoufiya University, Egypt
• Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBCh), Faculty of Medicine, Menoufiya University, Egypt

Recent conferences

European Congress of Digital Pathology, Warwick University, UK, April 2019

• M A Aleskandarany, N Mongan, MS Toss, Sara Abuelmaaty, Khloud El Sharawy, Raluca Mihai, AR Green, I O Ellis, LW Dalton, and EA Rakha. Breast Cancer Grade Discordance is Associated with Distinct Global Molecular Profiles
• EA Rakha, M A Aleskandarany, MS Toss, Sara Abuelmaaty, Khloud El Sharawy, N Mongan, A R Green, IO Ellis& L W Dalton. The ability of using whole slide images of breast cancer to build a capable gene-expression signature to predict patient outcome

Joint Meeting of the British Division of the International Academy of Pathology and the Pathological Society of Great Britain & Ireland, Leeds, UK, July 2019

• A Aljohani; S Kurozumi; C Joseph; MA Aleskandarany; S Alsaeed; Y Kariri; PL Narasimha; I Ellis; A Green; E Rakha. Prognostic significance of Isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (IDH2): a Biomarker associated with lymphovascular Invasion in Breast cancer. Oral presentation
• M Alsaleem; G Ball; S Raafat; MS Toss; M Aleskandarany; C Joseph; A Ogden; CG Rida; IO Ellis; R Aneja; AR Green; NP Mongan; EA Rakha, Poster Transcriptomic profiling of triple negative Breast cancer Identifies SPDYC as a novel independent predictor of outcome. Poster presentation
• KA El-Sharawy; LW Dalton; MS Toss; SR Abuelmaaty; NP Mongan; IO Ellis; AR Green; MA Aleskandarany; EA Rakha, Poster Methods of nucleolar assessment in Invasive Breast cancer and their prognostic significance. Poster presentation
• Y Kariri; C Joseph; S Kurozumi; I Miligy; S Al Saeed; A Aljohani; PL Narasimha; IO Ellis; NP Mongan; M Aleskandarany; AR Green; EA Rakha. Poster Keratin 24 (krt 24) confers poor patient outcome in Invasive Breast cancer. Poster presentation
• Q Goh; C Joseph; MS Toss; M Althobiti; M Arshad; S Al-izzi; S Kurozumi; MA Aleskandarany; AR Green; IO Ellis; EA Rakha. Poster The prognostic significance of pdZ domain-containing 1 (pdZk1) in Invasive Breast cancer and its association with er heterogeneity. Poster presentation

Summer meeting of the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Belfast, June 2017

• Althobiti M, Aleskandarany MA, Joseph C, Green AR, Ellis IO, Rakha, E.A., The Heterogeneity of Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocytes and its Effect on Patient Outcome. Oral presentation
• R El-Ansari; MA Aleskandarany; KW Cheng; M Diez-Rodriguez; CC Nolan; C Caldas; IO Ellis; EA Rakha; AR Green. Glutamine transporters SLC1A5 and SLC7A5 are key therapeutic targets in luminal B Breast cancer. Oral presentation
• DAJ Ahmad; A Ammar; MA Aleskandarany; C Nolan; M Deiz- Rodriguez; IO Ellis; E Rakha. Activated p38 maPk and its downstream molecule p-ATF-2 are associated with good Prognosis in Breast cancer. Poster Presentation
• RAA Mohammed; H EL-Deek Mohamed; A Green; MA Aleskandarany; IO Ellis; E Rakha. Clinicopathological characteristics of triple negative-Basal Breast cancer: a comparative study Between Egyptian and British Patients. Poster presentation

 NCRI Cancer Conference, Liverpool, UK, November 2016

• Alsubhi N, Aleskandarany MA, Diez-Rodriguez M, Green AR, Ellis IO, Rakha EA, Madhusudan S. Synthetic lethal targeting of ATR-Chk1 pathway in PTEN-deficient breast cancers for personalisation of therapy. Oral Presentation

Biennial Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research, Manchester, July 2016

• Aleskandarany MA, Abduljabbar RF, Sonbul SM, Lai CF, Ali S, Diez-Rodriguez M, Nolan CC, GreenAR, Ellis IO, Rakha EA. Clinicopathologic Significance of Androgen Receptor Expression in Invasive Breast Cancer: a Comprehensive Analysis in Large Cohorts

Recent publications

For a full list of publications, please see

PubMed 

Google Scholar 

Research Gate 

I: Book Chapters 

Chapters in the Edited Book: Precision Molecular Pathology of Breast Cancer, 2015 (Editors: Ashraf Khan, et al):

1- Molecular Pathology of Breast Cancer Metastasis. Aleskandarany MA, Ellis IO and Rakha EA.

2- Molecular Classification of Breast Cancer. Aleskandarany MA, Rakha EA, and Ellis IO.

3- Molecular-Based Diagnostic, Prognostic and Predictive Tests in Breast Cancer. Muftah AA, Aleskandarany MA, Ellis IO and Rakha EA.

II: Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals­­­­

1. Xu Q, Kaur J, Wylie D, Mittal K, Li H, Kolachina R, Aleskandarany M, Toss MS, Green AR, Yang J, et al (2022). A Case Series Exploration of Multi-Regional Expression Heterogeneity in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Patients. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Nov 1;23(21):13322
2. Mittal k, Kaur J, Sharma s, Sharma N, Wei G, Choudhary I, Imhansi-jacob P, Maganti N, Pawar S, Rida P, Toss MS, Aleskandarany M, Janssen EA, et al. (2022) Hypoxia Drives Centrosome Amplification in Cancer Cells via HIF1α-Dependent Induction of Polo-Like Kinase 4. Mol Cancer Res.
3. M Althobiti, KA El-sharawy, C Joseph, M Aleskandarany, MS Toss, et al. (2021). Oestrogen-regulated protein SLC39A6: a biomarker of good prognosis in luminal breast cancer. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 1-10.
4. SA Alsaeed, M Toss, M Alsaleem, M Aleskandarany, C Joseph, et al. (2021). Prognostic significance of heat shock protein 90AA1 (HSP90α) in invasive breast cancer. Journal of Clinical Pathology.
5. S Elsheikh, I Kouzoukakis, C Fielden, Wei Li, S E Lashin, N Khair, T P Raposo, W Fadhil, P Rudland, M Aleskandarany, P Patel, et al. (2020). Ran GTPase is an independent prognostic marker in malignant melanoma which promotes tumour cell migration and invasion. Journal of Clinical Pathology.
6. KA Elsharawy, OJ Mohammed, MA Aleskandarany, A Hyder, et al. (2020). The nucleolar-related protein Dyskerin pseudouridine synthase 1 (DKC1) predicts poor prognosis in breast cancer. (2020). British journal of cancer 123 (10), 1543-1552.
7. MA Alsaleem, G Ball, Ms Toss, S Raafat, M Aleskandarany, C Joseph, et al. (2020). A novel prognostic two-gene signature for triple negative breast cancer. Modern Pathology 33 (11), 2208-2220.
8. M Althobiti, R El Ansari, M Aleskandarany, C Joseph, MS Toss, AR Green, et al. (2020). The prognostic significance of ALDH1A1 expression in early invasive breast cancer. Histopathology 77 (3), 437-448.
9. M Althobiti, AA Muftah, MA Aleskandarany, C Joseph, MS Toss, A Green, et al. (2020). The prognostic significance of BMI1 expression in invasive breast cancer is dependent on its molecular subtypes. Breast cancer research and treatment 182 (3), 581-589.
10. S Bhattarai, S Klimov, K Mittal, U Krishnamurthi, Xb Li, D Wali, M Aleskandarany, E Rakha, R Aneja (2020). Prognostic role of androgen receptor in triple negative breast cancer: A global multi-institutional experience. Cancer epidemiology biomarkers & prevention 29 (6).
11. Ogden A, Bhattarai S, Sahoo B, Mongan NP, Alsaleem M, Green AR, Aleskandarany M, Ellis IO, Pattni S, Li Xb, et al. Combined HER3-EGFR score in triple-negative breast cancer provides prognostic and predictive significance superior to individual biomarkers. Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 20;10(1):3009.
12. EL sharawy Ka, Toss MS, Raafat S, Ball G, Green AR, Aleskandarany MA, Dalton LW, Rakha EA (2019). Prognostic significance of nucleolar assessment in invasive breast cancer. Histopathology. 2019 Nov 17.
13. Alsaleem M, Toss MS, Joseph C, Aleskandarany M, Kurozumi S, Alshankyty I, Ogden A, Rida P, Ellis IO, Aneja R, Green AR, Mongan NP, Rakha EA. The molecular mechanisms underlying reduced E-cadherin expression in invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast: high throughput analysis of large cohorts. Mod Pathol. 2019 Jul;32(7):967-976.
14. Craze ML, El-Ansari R, Aleskandarany MA, Cheng Kw, Alfarsi L, Masisi B, Diez-Rodriguez M, Nolan CC, Ellis IO, Rakha EA, Green AR. Glutamate dehydrogenase (GLUD1) expression in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2019 Feb;174(1):79-91.
15. Rakha EA, Agarwal D, Green AR, Ashankyty I, Ellis IO, Ball G, Aleskandarany MA. Prognostic stratification of oestrogen receptor-positive HER2-negative lymph node-negative class of breast cancer. Histopathology, October 2016.
16. Aleskandarany MA, Abduljabbar R, Ashankyty I, Elmouna A, Jerjees D, Ali S, Buluwela L, et al. Prognostic significance of androgen receptor expression in invasive breast cancer: transcriptomic and protein expression analysis. Breast Cancer Res Treat, 2016.
17. Aleskandarany MA, Agarwal D, Negm O, Ball G, Elmouna A, Ashankyty I, Nuglozeh E, Fazaludeen M, Diez-Rodriguez M, et al. The prognostic significance of STAT3 in invasive breast cancer: analysis of protein and mRNA expressions in large cohorts. Breast Cancer Res Treat, 2016, 156, 9-20.
18. Aleskandarany MA, Green, AR, Ashankyty, I, Elmouna, A, Diez-Rodriguez, M, Nolan, CC, Ellis, IO & Rakha, EA. Impact of intratumoural heterogeneity on the assessment of Ki67 expression in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat, 2016, 158, 287-95.
19. Aleskandarany MA, Sonbul, SN, Mukherjee, A & Rakha, EA. Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Lymphovascular Invasion in Invasive Breast Cancer. Pathobiology, 2015, 82, 113-23.
20. Aleskandarany MA, Soria D, Green AR, Nolan C, Diez-Rodriguez M, Ellis IO & Rakha EA. Markers of progression in early-stage invasive breast cancer: a predictive immunohistochemical panel algorithm for distant recurrence risk stratification. Breast Cancer Res Treat, 2015, 151, 325-33.