Amin Hajitou
Reader
Imperial College London
UK
Biography
Amin Hajitou completed his PhD at The University of Liege, Belgium, where he acquired extensive experience in delivery technologies for therapeutic nucleic acids. Then he did his postdoctoral training in the world leading MD-Anderson Cancer Center in Texas-USA, where he gained expertise in bacteriophage (phage)-guided gene delivery and phage display technologies in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, he designed a novel hybrid phage vector for targeted nucleic acid transfer to cancer. The hybrid phage, published in Cell 2006, showed first success of systemic gene targeting to cancer in vivo. His team and independent groups reported efficacy of intravenous cancer gene therapy in rodents and pet dogs with naturally occurring cancers. In 2008, Hajitou established his research team, as a Lecturer, at Imperial College, then became Senior Lecturer in 2013 and Reader in 2016. His research team has become a leading authority in phage-guided delivery systems to cancer including brain tumours. His leadership in the field has resulted in various awards for his research, and a Royal Decoration by his Majesty the King of Morocco, in 2015.
Research Interest
Brain tumours, Gene delivery, Bacteriophage vector