Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics Research Grouo

The Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics Research group is an interdisciplinary research group established in 2018 in RIMHS, University of Sharjah. The key focus of the group is to understand the molecular mechanisms and to identify early diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of chronic complex human diseases including but not limited to, cancer, endocrine and inflammatory diseases using multi- platform OMICs technologies (genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics and metagenomics). In order to achieve this goal, the research group aims to develop novel bioinformatics algorithms and/or tools and efficient research workflow for bioinformatic integration and analysis of datasets from multi-OMICs platforms. The ultimate goal of our work is to provide innovative solutions for environmental, health and food issues. Partly, the group extends the focus on environmental sustainability issues, a current scientific policy of the region, where the complexity of the UAE native plants and cellular response to harsh environmental stresses has been addressed using novel genomic technology.

1. Deciphering the molecular pathogenesis of complex chronic diseases using multi-platform OMICs followed by functional validation.
2. Development of novel bioinformatics tools and pipeline
   • to identify diagnostic and prognostic early biomarkers for complex chronic diseases from high throughput functional analysis
   • to better understand the host-pathogen interaction in disease for metagenomics investigation of human surrounding environments
   • for in-silico identification of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers from publicly available OMICs databases
3. Molecular characterization of the role of drug targets on biological systems and pathways using pharmacogenomics applied through next generation sequencing.
4. Identification of environmental stress-responsive genes in candidate UAE native plants through high throughput transcriptomics analysis.
5. Phytochemical and molecular characterization of UAE medicinal plants using OMICs technologies to develop plant-based functional foods and nutraceuticals.
6. Development of molecular tools based on the next generation sequencing for species identification and food authenticity in multicomponent food mixtures.
7. To use computational chemistry, molecular modelling, and structural bioinformatics to investigate biophysical, biomedical, and pharmaceutical importance such as ligand-protein and protein-protein interactions.

1. External Research Grants
2. Internal Research Grants
3. Patents 

External collaborators

• Prof. Alexander MacRobert, University College London, London, United Kingdom  
• Prof. Marilena Loizidou, University College London, London, United Kingdom  
• Prof. Stephan Beck, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
• Prof. Nikolitsa Nomikou, Department of Surgical Biotechnology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
• Prof. Jan Bures, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové & Charles University, Czech Republic
• Prof. Darina Kohoutova, Royal Marsden Hospital, United Kingdom
• Prof. Nahed Baddour, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt
• Prof. Heba Kassem, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt   
• Prof Olfat Shaker, College of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt
• Prof. M. Y. Malik, King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia
• Prof. Mohammed Seaid, University Mohammed 6, Morocco
• Prof. Grigory Kabatsyanky, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia
• Prof. Almira Kustubaeva, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan
• Prof. Saber Masmoudi, Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax, Tunisia
• Prof. Maha Tantawy, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Egypt
• Dr. Emanuele Libertini, Clarivate, United Kingdom
• Dr. Aamir Ahmed, King's College, London, United Kingdom
• Dr. Kate Ricketts, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom                               
• Dr. Colin Hopper, Eastman Dental Institute, United Kingdom
• Dr. Hoda El Assi, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria, Egypt       
• Dr. Mohamed Mostafa, Cairo University, Egypt
• Dr. Adel Settati, FST Tangier, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Morocco
• Dr. Adil Lahrouz, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences Dhar-Mehraz,Fez, Morocco
• Dr. K. U. Rehman, Air University, Pakistan
• Dr. Amir Khan, University of Sewat, Pakistan
• Dr. Maxim Sharaev, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia
• Dr. Alexander Bernstein, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia
• Dr. Yevgeny Burnaev, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia
• Dr. Christèle Desbois-Mouthon, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Paris, Sorbonne Paris-Cité, Paris, France
• Dr. Sana Sfar, College of Pharmacy, University of Monastir, Tunisia
• Prof. Hatem Masmoudi, Immunology department, University Hospital, Habib Bourguiba, Tunisia
• Dr. Marwa Afifi, NIH, USA
• Dr. Rana Youness, University of Hertfordshire, Egypt

Internal collaborators

•  Dr. Maryam Matar, UAE Genetic Disease Association, UAE
• Dr. Habiba Alsafar, Khalifa University, UAE
• Dr. Ali AlFazari, American Hospital Dubai, UAE
• Dr. Mouza Al-Ameri, Tawam Hospital, UAE    
• Prof. Abdesslam Boutayeb, Emirates Aviation University, UAE
• Prof. Bassam Ali, UAEU, UAE
• Dr. Abdelsamad Tridane, UAEU Al ain, UAE
• Dr. Habiba Al-Safar, Khalifa University, UAE
• Dr. Saba Al-Heialy, MBRU, UAE
• Dr. Amal Nada, Zulekha Hospital, UAE
• Ms. Asma Mohamad, Sharjah Municipality, UAE
• Mr. Toufik Refki, Expo2020, UAE
• Dr. Shroque Zaher, MBRU, UAE
• Prof. Byoung Kwon Kim, SKSH, UAE
• Dr. Rawya Mohamed, SSMC, UAE
• Dr. Mohamed Ghazal, Abu-Dhabi University, UAE