Dr Asmerom Sengal
Faculty of Health,
School of Biomedical Sciences
Biography
Dr Asmerom Sengal was awarded his Medical Doctorate (MD) from the Latin American School of Medicine and completed his specialisation in Anatomic Pathology in June 2016. Dr Sengal conferred his PhD in Molecular Pathology at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Nov 2020. Dr Sengal is a senior research fellow in the Endometrial Cancer Laboratory at QUT based @ Princess Alexandra (PA) Hospital Campus /Translational Research Institute (TRI).Dr Sengal's research focuses on Gynaecological/uterine and breast cancer with translational research priority to bring alternative treatment options for patients with clinically unmet fields. Dr Sengal's work involves biomarker assay development and optimisation, preclinical model establishment (PDXs and 3D Organoids), ex-vivo and in vivo drug screening, spatial transcriptomics, bioimaging, digital pathology (AI) and bioimage analysis. He developed, optimised and validated a novel BaseScope RNA in situ hybridisation (ISH) assay that detects FGFR2 splice isoforms using exon-exon junction probes. He discovered FGFR2b to FGFR2c isoform switching in endometrial cancer and confirmed that FGFR2c is an independent prognostic and predictive biomarker in endometrial cancer patients. In the Lab, he established and characterised the morphological and molecular profile of 24 authentic endometrial cancer PDXs and pioneered in development of independent 3D patient-derived organoids (PDOs) for drug screening. Dr also established immortalised primary endometrial cancer cell lines named after his initials including ASP67, ASP278, and ASP488 which are vital for functional studies.
He published several papers in high-impact international peer-reviewed journals including Clin Can Res and Genome Medicine, and Nature Precision Oncology and presented at international and national conferences. He contributes to different professional committees including the Australian and New Zealand Gynaecologic Oncologic Group (ANZGOG) EDEN initiative. Dr Sengal's research is supported by ANZGOG in 2020, Incyte Biopharm, US DOD and Cure Cancer Australia Foundation.
Dr Sengal is keen in collaborations and he established extensive collaborations with Clinicians, Pathologists and Basic Science Scientists in the field of endometrial/uterine cancer nationally and internationally. He is an academic editor in PLOS ONE in the Science and Medicine section and Frontiers in Oncology in the Gynaecological Oncology Section.
Personal details
Positions
- Postdoctoral Fellow
Faculty of Health,
School of Biomedical Sciences
Keywords
Endometrial Cancer, Spatial Pathology, Biomarker discovery, Precision Medicine, Preclinical development, Patient derived Organoids, Patient Derived Xenograft, Molecular Oncology, FGFR/FGF Signalling, Assay development
Research field
Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Immunology, Genetics
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)
Professional memberships and associations
Active Member of ANZGOG and EDEN initiative Committee Active member of ASMR Active Member of ALM Affiliate member of RACGP
Teaching
Histology, Histopathology and Histopathology Techniques
Experience
Practical teaching Histology and histopathology Techniques
Research
Biomarker discovery in cancer (endometrial cancer), assay development, preclinical model (PDX) establishment, 3D organoid biology, Bio-statistics
Publications
- Bonazzi, V., Kondrashova, O., Smith, D., Nones, K., Sengal, A., Ju, R., Packer, L., Koufariotis, L., Kazakoff, S., Davidson, A., Ramarao-Milne, P., Lakis, V., Newell, F., Rogers, R., Davies, C., Nicklin, J., Garrett, A., Chetty, N., Perrin, L., Pearson, J., Patch, A., Waddell, N. & Pollock, P. (2022). Patient-derived xenograft models capture genomic heterogeneity in endometrial cancer. Genome Medicine, 14(1). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/228848
- Sengal, A., Smith, D., Snell, C., Leung, S., Talhouk, A., Williams, E., McAlpine, J. & Pollock, P. (2022). Spatial expression of the FGFR2b splice isoform and its prognostic significance in endometrioid endometrial carcinoma. Journal of Pathology: Clinical Research, 8(6), 521–537. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/234302
- Sengal, A., Smith, D., Rogers, R., Snell, C., Williams, E. & Pollock, P. (2021). Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 2 Isoforms Detected via Novel RNA ISH as Predictive Biomarkers for Progestin Therapy in Atypical Hyperplasia and Low-Grade Endometrial Cancer. Cancers, 13(7). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/209969
- Sengal, A., Smith, D., Rogers, R., Snell, C., Williams, E. & Pollock, P. (2021). FGFR2 isoform switching strongly associates with progestin treatment failure in atypical hyperplasia and well-differentiated endometrial cancer. Clinical Cancer Research, 27(3_Supplement). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/238734
- Sengal, A., Bonazzi, V., Kondrashova, O., Perrin, L., Chetty, N., Smith, D., Gil-Moreno, A., Colas, E. & Pollock, P. (2021). Targeting FGFR2c isoform, a novel therapeutic target with FGFR inhibitor in endometrial cancer. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 20(12 Suppl). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/240747
- Sengal, A., Patch, A., Snell, C., Smith, D., Leung, S., Talhouk, A., Williams, E., McAlpine, J. & Pollock, P. (2020). FGFR2c Mesenchymal Isoform Expression Is Associated with Poor Prognosis and Further Refines Risk Stratification within Endometrial Cancer Molecular Subtypes. Clinical Cancer Research, 26(17), 4569–4580. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/233096
- Sengal, A., Haj-Mukhtar, N., Vetter, M., Elhaj, A., Bedri, S., Hauptmann, S., Thomssen, C., Mohamedani, A., Wickenhauser, C. & Kantelhardt, E. (2018). Comparison of Receptor-Defined Breast Cancer Subtypes Between German and Sudanese Women: A Facility-Based Cohort Study. Journal of Global Oncology, 4. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/232482
- Sengal, A., Haj-Mukhtar, N., Elhaj, A., Bedri, S., Kantelhardt, E. & Mohamedani, A. (2017). Immunohistochemistry defined subtypes of breast cancer in 678 Sudanese and Eritrean women; hospitals based case series. BMC Cancer, 17. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/203591
- Tesfamariam, A., Gebremichael, A. & Mufunda, J. (2013). Breast cancer clinicopathological presentation, gravity and challenges in Eritrea, East Africa: Management practice in a resource-poor setting. South African Medical Journal, 103(8), 526–528. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/204098
- Sengal, A. & Roy, I. (2013). Molecular biology of breast cancer in the Horn of Africa: Case series-a pilot study of breast cancer from Eritrea. ISRN Pathology, 2013. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/204093
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Asmerom, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).