World Association of Young Scientists

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Member Profile

Academic Level

PhD

Position

Other

Working Sector

Secondary School / College / University

Highest Degree

Ph. D.

Discipline

Life Sciences: Microbiology

Reseach Topic

Microbial Pathogenesis, Therapeutics development

Publications

(1) Attia, A. S., Benson, M. A., Stauff, D. L., Torres, V. J. and Skaar, E. P. (2010) Membrane damage elicits an immunomodulatory program in Staphylococcus aureus. PLoS Pathog 6, e1000802.

(2) Torres, V. J., Attia, A. S., Mason, W. J., Hood, M. I., Corbin, B. D., Beasley, F. C., Anderson, K. L., Stauff, D. L., McDonald, W. H., Zimmerman, L. J., Friedman, D. B., Heinrichs, D. E., Dunman, P. M. and Skaar, E. P. (2010) Staphylococcus aureus fur regulates the expression of virulence factors that contribute to the pathogenesis of pneumonia. Infect Immun 78, 1618-1628.

(3) Attia, A. S., Sedillo, J. L., Hoopman, T. C., Liu, W., Liu, L., Brautigam, C. A. and Hansen, E. J. (2009) Identification of a bacteriocin and its cognate immunity factor expressed by Moraxella catarrhalis. BMC Microbiol 9, 207.

(4) Brooks, M. J., Sedillo, J. L., Wagner, N., Laurence, C. A., Wang, W., Attia, A. S., Hansen, E. J. and Gray-Owen, S. D. (2008) Modular arrangement of allelic variants explains the divergence in Moraxella catarrhalis UspA protein function. Infect Immun 76, 5330-5340.

(5) Brooks, M. J., Sedillo, J. L., Wagner, N., Wang, W., Attia, A. S., Wong, H., Laurence, C. A., Hansen, E. J. and Gray-Owen, S. D. (2008) Moraxella catarrhalis binding to host cellular receptors is mediated by sequence-specific determinants not conserved among all UspA1 protein variants. Infect Immun 76, 5322-5329.

(6) Attia, A. S., Sedillo, J. L., Wang, W., Liu, W., Brautigam, C. A., Winkler, W. and Hansen, E. J. (2008) Moraxella catarrhalis expresses an unusual Hfq protein. Infect Immun 76, 2520-2530.

(7) Wang, W., Pearson, M. M., Attia, A. S., Blick, R. J. and Hansen, E. J. (2007) A UspA2H-negative variant of Moraxella catarrhalis strain O46E has a deletion in a homopolymeric nucleotide repeat common to uspA2H genes. Infect Immun 75, 2035-2045.

(8) Attia, A. S. and Hansen, E. J. (2006) A conserved tetranucleotide repeat is necessary for wild-type expression of the Moraxella catarrhalis UspA2 protein. J Bacteriol 188, 7840-7852.

(9) Attia, A. S., Ram, S., Rice, P. A. and Hansen, E. J. (2006) Binding of vitronectin by the Moraxella catarrhalis UspA2 protein interferes with late stages of the complement cascade. Infect Immun 74, 1597-1611.

(10) Wang, W., Attia, A. S., Liu, L., Rosche, T., Wagner, N. J. and Hansen, E. J. (2006) Development of a shuttle vector for Moraxella catarrhalis. Plasmid 55, 50-57.

(11) Attia, A. S., Lafontaine, E. R., Latimer, J. L., Aebi, C., Syrogiannopoulos, G. A. and Hansen, E. J. (2005) The UspA2 protein of Moraxella catarrhalis is directly involved in the expression of serum resistance. Infect Immun 73, 2400-2410.

Prizes / Awards

2009 SIDNEY P. COLOWICK AWARD For Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellow Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN, USA

Research Tags

Research:, Role of bacterial stress response proteins in virulence and as therapeutic targetsThe work of our group focuses on studying potential bacterial virulence proteins that are involved in the host-pathogen interaction. More specifically, we are interested in a group of bacterial proteins that are induced upon the bacterial exposure to different stressors similar to those which are encountered within the host environment. At first we evaluate the role of these proteins in the virulence of the pathogen by constructing and testing isogenic mutants in well established animal models of infection. Then we study the conditions under which the genes encoding these proteins are induced and how they are regulated. Obtaining a clear picture of the genetic regulation of stress proteins paves the road for establishing big screens to identify inhibitors of such systems. Libraries of small chemical compounds either of synthetic or natural origins are attractive tools to identify molecules that can serve as nuclei for the development of new therapeutics. This kind of therapeutics are urgently needed due to the progressive increase in drug resistance. We are currently focusing our efforts towards two pathogens that are among the most drug-resistant bacteria both in the clinic and the community. These two pathogens are the gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and the gram-negative one Acinetobacter baumannii.

Bio

PREVIOUS AND CURRENT POSITIONS:

09/2008- present Postdoctoral research fellow
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.

06/2007- present
Lecturer and researcher
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.

04/2006-05/2007 Postdoctoral research fellow
Department of Microbiology
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.

08/2001-03/2006 Graduate Research Assistant
Department of Microbiology
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
11/1997-07/2001 Teaching Assistant
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.

EDITOR and REVIEWER ACTIVITIES

Editor-in-Chief: Archives of Clinical Microbiology (http://www.acmicrob.com/)

Editor in Journal of Next Generation Information Technology

Ad hoc reviewer for
American Society for Microbiology K-12 educational materials

Ad hoc reviewer for several international peer reviewed journals including:
- Anaerobe
- Biologicals
- Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
- Journal of Parasitology and Vector Biology
- Life Sciences
- PLoS One
- Research in Veterinary Science
- Scientific Journals International

General and Contact Information

Title

Dr.

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Attia

Country of Origin

Egypt

Country of Residence

Egypt

City

Cairo

Your Website

https://sites.google.com/site/ahmedsattia/

Languages

English, Arabic, French

History

Member for

2 years 44 weeks

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