Academics

•Alexander Von Humboldt – Georg Forster Research Fellowship for experienced researchers – awarded to Prof. Ahmed Ihab, School of Medicine, 2017
•Alexander Von Humboldt – Georg Forster Research Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers – awarded to Dr. Nada El-Ekiaby, School of Medicine, 2019

1. Research competition:
The research competition is composed of individual presentations of scientific research articles. Based on individual interviews and the medical students’ performance in the presentations, top medical students are selected to work on small research projects. Best performers are integrated into major projects, in addition to co-authoring research articles.

2. Lab work:
Top medical students who are selected based on the competition, undergo the lab practice to perform basic and sophisticated experiments to be a nucleus for School of Medicine research team.

3. Review article writing and publication:
The students form groups to write review articles within state of the art research fields.
Frequent meetings are held to agree on the final topic and outline of the article. This is followed by the actual writing of the article by the students and its correction and reviewing for subsequent publication.
Resulting publications:
School of Medicine:
• Competing Endogenous RNAs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma-The Pinnacle of Rivalry.
• Afify AY, Ibrahim SA, Aldamsisi MH, Zaghloul MS, El-Ekiaby N, Abdelaziz AI.
• Semin Liver Dis. 2019 Jun 26. doi: 10.1055/s-0039-1688442. [Epub ahead of print]
School of Dentistry:
• The periodontal stem/progenitor cell inflammatory-regenerative cross talk: A new perspective. Journal of periodontal research. 2019 Apr;54(2):81-94.
• Fawzy El-Sayed KM, Elahmady M, Adawi Z, Aboushadi N, Elnaggar A, Eid M, Hamdy N, Sanaa D, Dörfer CE.
• The dental pulp stem/progenitor cells-mediated inflammatory-regenerative axis. Tissue Engineering. 2019 Jun 10(ja).
• Fawzy El-Sayed KM, Elsalawy R, Ibrahim N, Gadalla M, Albargasy H, Zahra N, Mokhtar S, Elnahhas N, Elkaliouby Y, Doerfer C.

4. Paid Research Positions:
Medical students who show top performance in the lab, as well as academic excellence, are offered a research position with a monthly salary to contribute to the team’s research grant projects.

Throughout the academic year, the NGU – Health Sciences Research Center organises and hosts the Seminar Series “Behind the Scenes”. The purpose of this seminar series is to expose NGU students & faculty to the latest and most current research in the field. The seminar series covers both clinical and basic research with emphasis on the professional experience of eminent scientists. While the clinical research is of immediate and practical benefit, the basic research seminars examine the molecular underpinnings of diseases and frequently provide insights into new therapeutic approaches development of new treatments. Thus, the attendee will develop an excellent understanding of cutting edge science in both its clinical and basic science aspects.

DFG Grant- BR 2960/3-1 “ Identification of YAP/TAZ-regulated non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and their interplay in liver cancer”. A collaborative project between Prof. Dr. Ahmed Ihab, NGU School of Medicine and Prof. Kai Breuhahn, University of Heidelberg, Germany.

ASRT-JESOR _2018-3113  “ Promoting cell cycle progression in cardiomyocytes via epigenetic regulation of CN/Hox/Meis expression”. A collaborative project between Prof. Dr. Ahmed Ihab, NGU School of Medicine, and Prof. Hesham Sadek, UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA.

STDF-Young Researcher Grant_33514 “Unveiling the cross-talk between non-coding RNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma: An attempt towards molecular therapy” awarded to Dr. Nada El-Ekiaby, School of Medicine.

STDF-Young Researcher Grant_33464 “NK-cell Snapshot: Exploring the therapeutic benefit of the interplay between FOXO1 and the non-coding transcriptome in HCC patients” awarded to Dr. Nada El-Ekiaby, School of Medicine.

STDF- Ministry of Scientific Research “The production and quality assessment of a biosimilar therapeutic monoclonal antibody for the treatment of breast cancer” awarded to NGU professors, School of Pharmacy, Dr. Medhat Al-Ghobashy, Dr. Muhammad Al Shorbagy, Dr. Muhammed Abdallah and Dr. Ahmed Sherif Attia, in collaboration with Minapharm Biogenetics and researchers from Cairo University.

STDF- Emergency Covid-19 Call_43736 “Targeting the route of entry of Covid-19 by FDA-approved repurposed drugs: An easy, safe and rapid approach to be transferred from the bench to the clinic” awarded to Prof. Dr. Ahmed Ihab Abdelaziz (PI), Dr. Nada El Ekiaby, both at NGU School of Medicine, in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Medhat A. Al-Ghobashy,  NGU School of Pharmacy and Prof. Dr. Hesham Sadek, Southwestern University and their corresponding teams.

STDF-Young Researcher Grant_43240 “An approach to target fatty liver: Understanding the impact of the microbiota on the epigenetic regulation of the nuclear receptors (PPAR and FXR) in fatty liver of Egyptian patients)” awarded to Dr. Shereen El Sobky, School of Medicine.