Yaqoub Ashhab is an associate professor of molecular biology and bioinformatics at Palestine Polytechnic University. He received his PhD in molecular immunology from Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1998. From 1999-2006 he worked as a postdoctoral fellow and a researcher at Hadassah Medical Centre, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2007, he joined Palestine Polytechnic University to lead the establishment of a biotechnology research unit that was funded by the European Union and the World Bank. In 2014, he also led a national project to establish the Palestine-Korea Biotechnology Center, which was a kind donation from the Korea International Cooperation Agency. Dr. Ashhab is a visiting professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and has been involved in research projects in Novartis Pharmaceutical Company. 

The main research interests of Dr. Ashhab are using genomic and multi-omics data to understand diseases, to develop diagnostic assays, and to design genome-based vaccines. He is currently working with a network of several European research groups in the field translational genomics. Furthermore, he has a long standing interest to address challenges and opportunities of developing countries to harness the potential of the genomic revolution. 

He is a co-founder and board member of the Palestinian Forum for Medical Research, which focuses on capacity building of young biomedical researchers. He has been working on developing bioinformatics and genomic training courses in Palestine and neighboring countries. He developed a bioinformatics educational channel in Arabic on YouTube. He authored and co-authored over 40 refereed publications in journals and conferences.