MENA Microbiome
From Biomarkers Discovery
to Microbiota-based Therapeutics

Dr. Souhaila Al Khodor

Director of Reproductive and Perinatal Health
Sidra Medicine
Qatar

Dr. Al Khodor is the Director of Reproductive and Perinatal Health Division in the Research Branch at Sidra Medicine, Qatar.

Dr. Al Khodor received her Bachelor’s degree in Medical Lab technology from the Faculty of Public Health at the Lebanese University in 2001. Soon after, she started her master’s degree in microbiology and Immunology at the American University of Beirut (2002-2004). Dr. Al Khodor received her second master’s degree and PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA (2005-2008). Before joining Sidra, Dr. Al Khodor worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Signaling systems Unit, laboratory of Systems Biology, at the National Institute of Allergy and infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland, USA.

Dr. Al Khodor’s laboratory at Sidra Medicine focuses on using multi-omics (metagenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics) and computational biology aiming to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying various diseases. Her primary goal is to identify early biomarkers for disease prediction. With a special focus on pregnancy complications (mainly preterm birth and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus) and complex pediatric disorders such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, her research at Sidra Medicine has attracted around 2.5 million USD in external funds.

Dr. Al Khodor is an adjunct Faculty at the College of Health & Life Science in Hamad Bin Khalifa University. She has over 74 peer-reviewed publications. She currently serves as the Section Editor for Metagenomics in the Journal of Translational Medicine.

Dr. Annalisa Terranegra

Principal Investigator
Sidra Medicine
Qatar

Dr Terranegra obtained her MSc degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Siena, Italy, and both her PhD in Molecular Medicine and Post-graduate Diploma in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Milan, Italy.

Before joining Sidra Medicine in 2014, Dr. Terranegra achieved strong experience in clinical nutrition, molecular biology and genetics during her career at the University of Milan, Italy, San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy, and San Paolo Hospital, Milan, Italy (2001-2014).

Dr Terranegra has extensive teaching experience as an Assistant Professor at the University of Milan, Italy (2003-2014). Dr Terranegra currently covers the position of adjunct Assistant Professor both in the College of Health and Life Sciences at Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar and in the College of Health Sciences at Qatar University, Qatar.

At Sidra Medicine, Dr Terranegra leads the Laboratory of Precision Nutrition (PreNutri Lab) which is interested in characterizing the mechanisms underlying the role of food and nutrients in the development and management of pregnancy complications, infertility, and pediatric non-communicable diseases. The PreNutri lab research projects focus on understanding the effect of diet on gut microbiota, metabolomics, and epigenetic mechanisms, as well as diet interaction with the genomic background, using the most advanced technologies, such as bacterial 16S rRNA sequencing, NGS, DNA-methylation arrays, HPLC-MS, GC-MS, and nutritional assessment.

Dr. Maha Al Asmakh

Department Head of Biomedical Sciences
Qatar University
Qatar

Maha Al-Asmakh, MSc, PhD, CTgyn(ASCPi)CM is an associate professor Head of Biomedical Sciences Department at the College of Health Sciences at Qatar University. She is also the chair of the Reproductive System Network Group at Qatar University. Dr. Al-Asmakh earned her BSc in biomedical sciences with honors from Qatar University and went on to complete her MSc in human reproductive biology at Imperial College London. She obtained her PhD from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a board certified by American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) as a gynaecologic cytologist CTgyn(ASCPi). Dr. Al-Asmakh's research interests lie in the areas of microbiome studies, reproduction and Zebrafish toxicology. She is the recipient of several awards including the L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Middle East Fellowship 2016 and ASCP 40 under Forty 2023 award. In addition to her primary role, Dr. Al-Asmakh serves as a Laboratory Consultant Clinical Scientist at the Ministry of Public Health. Dr. Al-Asmakh also reviews scientific journals and research grants and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science.

Dr. Mamoun Elawad

Chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition 
Sidra Medicine
Qatar

Prof. Elawad has his training in Pediatric gastroenterology at Great Ormond Street, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Oxford John Radcliff Hospital and King’s College Hospital. He worked as a consultant Pediatric gastroenterologist at University Hospital of Wales and Birmingham Children’s Hospital before he rejoined Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2002 as a consultant gastroenterologist and senior lecturer at the University College of London. He has been the head of the department at Great Ormond Street since 2007 until he joined Sidra Medicine in 2014 as a Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology and director of inflammatory bowel disorders. Whist at GOSH, he became the founder and the director of the first worldwide pioneering program for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant for autoimmune and inflammatory gut diseases. He was also the director of the department international collaboration “ImproveCareNow” at GOSH, and recently at Sidra Medicine, which involves 98 pediatric gastrointestinal units in the United States, with GOSH and Sidra Medicine being the only centers outside the United States. He was also the co-founder of the European GENIUS group that oversees the diagnosis and the treatment of children with early onset inflammatory bowel diseases. Prof. Elawad has been a senior lecturer at the Institute of Child Health – University College of London and his main research areas of interest are autoimmune gut disorders, genetics of inflammatory bowel disease, microbiota and genetic interaction in inflammatory gut diseases, Early Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease and GI food allergy. He has many publications in these areas.

Dr. Amine Zorgani

Consultant
Biocodex Microbiota Institute
Belgium

Dr. Zorgani is a scientist and a microbiome expert with over a decade of experience working with biotechnology start-up on both gut and skin microbiome. He dedicates his live mission into saving the Human microbiome from extinction using his Microbiome Mavericks Communication brand. Amine works with scientists across the globe to bring microbiome science to the wider audience and bring innovations from the bench to the bedside.

Prof. Nahla Mansour

Professor of Microbial Molecular Biology National Research Center
Egypt

Nahla Mansour obtained her PhD from biological science faculty University of East Anglia- United Kingdom (2002) in the field of Microbiology and genetic engineering. Dr Mansour is currently a Professor of Microbial Molecular Biology and a group leader of Gut Microbiology and Immunology at the department of chemistry of natural and microbial products at the Institute of Pharmaceutical and Drug Industries Research, National Research Centre, Egypt. Research interests of Prof. Nahla Mansour emphasize on human microbiome and its role in disease control, phage therapy, Bacterial–mediated gene therapy, multi-drug resistant pathogens, probiotics as oral vaccine carrier and probiotics manufacturing. Prof. Mansour has been a principal investigator for several of international and national projects, and has a recognized publications record in international scientific journals. Dr Mansour supervised graduate students for M.Sc. and PhD degrees and she is actively involved in training and mentoring young scientists. Alongside her research activities, Nahla Mansour is the founder of the Egyptian Foundation of Microbiome Sciences and its Applications (EFMSA) since 2020, she also serves as chair of board of trustees at EFMSA.