Biotechnology

Division of Biotechnology
- Research Areas:
  - Protective Immune Response
  - Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
  - Bio-nanotechnology
  - Structure-based Drug Design

Faculty Members
- Cairo Univ.
  - Prof. Maged Al-Sherbiny
  - Dr. Mohammad Yousef
  - Dr. Said Abdelfattah Taha
  - Dr. Medhat El-Halawany
- National Research Center
  - Dr. Mahmoud Sakr
Coordinator:
- TBD

The SESAME Project
- The SESAME Project website

Research Projects
- Decoding the protective immune response: A global impact (Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation (to start 2004-2009)
- Structural basis of neural cells differentiation
- Development of nano-biomachines
- Bioengineering of novel proteins
- Design, Commissioning and Operation of synchrotron beam lines for Protein crystallography

Grants (last 5 Years)
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grant (2004-2009)
- Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Award (2006-current)
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) fellowship, USA (2003-2006)
- European Commission Grant (2002-2006)
- Wellcome Trust Foundation, UK (2000-2005)

Workshops & Conferences
- Workshop on Synchrotron Applications in Molecular Crystallography, 30 Nov. - 2 Dec. 2006

International Collaborators
- Soichi Wakatsuki (Director), Photon factory Synchrotron, Tsukuba, Japan
- William Duax, Hauptman-Woodward Institute, Buffalo, New York, USA
- Robert Bergquist, World Health Organization

Publications (Last 5 Years)
- Prof. Maged Al-Sherbiny
  - Application and assessment of a dipstick assay in the diagnosis of hydatidosis and trichinosis.
    Parasitology Research, 93:87-95. (2004)
  - Cellular and humoral immune responses to recombinant Smp17.7 schistosoma mansoni antigen. J. Egypt. Soc. Parasitol., 33:925-946. (2003)
  - Immune response to Hepatitis C antigens in a high-risk population in Egypt.
    Proceed. Int. Symp. Vir. Hep Liver Dis (ISVHLD). (2003)
- Dr. Mohammad Yousef
  - Guanidinium Derivatives Bind Preferentially and Trigger Long-Distance Conformational Changes in an Engineered T4 Lysozyme, Protein Science. 15(4):853-61 (2006)
  - Structural basis of Prospero-DNA interaction. Implications for Transcription Regulation in developing cells. Structure, 13(4): 601-607 (2005)
  - Use of Sequence Duplication to Engineer a Ligand-triggered Long-Distance Molecular Switch in T4 Lysozyme, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 10; 101(32):11583-6 (2004)
  - A Minimal Model for G Protein -Mediated Synaptic Facilitation and Depression, Journal of Neurophysiology, 90(3):1643-53 (2003)
  - The Putative Catalytic Bases Have, at most, An Accessory Role in the Mechanism of Arginine Kinase, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 18;278(29):26952-7 (2003)
  - Induced fit in Guanidino Kinase – Comparison of Substrate-Free and Transition State Analogue structures of Arginine Kinase, Protein science (12): 103-111 (2003)
  - Refinement of Arginine kinase Transition State Analogue Complex to 1.2 Å; Mechanistic Insights. Acta. Cryst. D58, 2009-2017 (2002)
- Dr. Said Taha
  - Interaction of Doxorubicin with phospholipid monolayer and liposomes”. Biophys. Chem. 70, 223-229.
  - Rapid and Dynamic Association Equilibrium of a Molecular Chaperone, gp57A, of Bacteriophage T4. Biophys. J. 85:2606-2618

Active Conference Participation (Last 5 Years)
- Prof. Maged Al-Sherbiny
  - Conferences of the Egyptian-German Society of Zoology in Assiut (1999), Cairo (2000), Mansoura (2001), Arish (2002), Hurghada (2003), Fayoum (2004).
  - Conferences of the Arab Biologist Union in Mansoura (2000), Fayoum (2001) and in Syria (2002).
  - International Hepatitis C and related viruses symposium in Brisbane, Australia (2000), Paris, France (2001), San Diego, USA (2002) and Sydney, Australia (2003).
  - World Health organization Steering Committee meetings for vaccine development in Bethesda, MD, USA (1995), (1996), Cairo (1997), London (2000), Manila, Philippine (2003).
- Dr. Mohammad Yousef
  - Coordinator and lecturer. International workshop on the synchrotron applications in macromolecular crystallography. Cairo University. November 30th- Dec 2nd 2006.
  - Member of the scientific committee and speaker. 5th SESAME user meeting. Alexandria 27-29 November 2006.
  - Invited speaker, German University in Cairo, May 25, 2006
  - Invited speaker. Workshop on nano-materials, Faculty of Science. Cairo University. May 17, 2006.
  - Invited speaker. “Biophysics and nanotechnology”. National Institute of Laser research. Cairo University. March 29, 2006
  - Invited speaker to 4th SESAME user meeting. Dead Sea, Jordan. December 6-8, 2005.
  - Invited speaker to SSRL seminar (Stanford University). “Molecular control, from conformational switches to cell fates” May 25th 2005.
  - Protein society meeting (18th Annual symposium). San Diego. August 14-18 2004. Poster presentation. (Best Poster Award)
  - North West crystallography workshop 25-27 July 2004. (Talk)
  - JSPS Asian Science Seminar “Synchrotron Radiation Science”. October 19-28, 2002. Al-Balqaa applied University, Amman, Jordan. (Speaker)
  - Gordon conference (diffraction methods in structural biology), July 14-19, Connecticut College, New London, Connecticut. (Poster presentation & Talk)
  - Symposium on Biomedical Computation, October 20 2001, Stanford University, San Francisco, California.