Sherif El-Khamisy

Adjunct professor of biochemistry and molecular ge
biochemistry 
University of Science and Technology at Zewail CIty
Egypt

Professor Biochemistry
Biography

"Professor Sherif El-Khamisy is the director of the Center of Genomics (CG) and an adjunct professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Science and Technology, Zewail City. El-Khamisy graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmaceutical sciences from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, followed by a Master of Science degree in biochemistry from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University. He then obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in biochemistry from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, followed by post-doctoral training in the United States and the United Kingdom. El-Khamisy completed a diploma in business administration at the American University in Cairo and a diploma in teaching and learning in higher education from the University of Sussex, UK. El-Khamisy’s academic career started as an assistant lecturer followed by assistant professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University. El-Khamisy then held a postdoctoral position at the department of genetics at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the United States, and served as a Medical Research Council (MRC) postdoctoral fellow at the University of Sussex’s MRC Genome Damage and Stability Centre in the United Kingdom. Currently, El-Khamisy is the chair of molecular genetics at the Russell Group Universities in the United Kingdom, heading research teams at both the University of Sheffield and the University of Sussex. El-Khamisy is the recipient of the Egyptian National Award in medical sciences from the National Science Academy in Egypt, the distinguished Wellcome Trust Fellowship and Wellcome Trust Investigator Award from the United Kingdom, and the 2014 Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers in medical and health sciences from Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation. He has recently been elected as a fellow of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, U.K.; a fellow of the British Higher Education Academy; a fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, U.K.; and a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, U.K. El-Khamisy is the co-founder of the Egyptian Young Academy of Science and serves on its scientific advisory board. El-Khamisy’s main research interest is in the field of genome research and medicine. El-Khamisy’s group is funded by the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, the Royal Lister Institute, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. El-Khamisy published over 35 peer-reviewed papers including two studies published in Nature in 2005 and 2009, one in Nature Communications in 2012 and one in Nature Genetics in 2014. He authored and co-authored other papers in many prestigious journals such as Cell, EMBO Molecular Medicine, Nucleic Acid Research, Molecular and Cellular Biology, British Journal of Cancer, Nature Reviews Cancer, and Human Molecular Genetics, among others. El-Khamisy’s work led to the discovery of a novel genetic pathway in 2009 and identified the first human disease with defects in this pathway in 2014. Driven by his initial training as a pharmacist, Sherif is leading initiatives to translate these findings to the clinic. His work is of significant impact in the field of genome research and medicine with over 1965 citations and an H-index of 20 with an average impact factor of 14."

Research Intrest

El-Khamisy’s main research interest is in the field of genome research and medicine. His work led to the discovery of a novel genetic pathway in 2009 and identified the first human disease with defects in this pathway in 2014.

List of Publications
Alagoz M, Wells OS, El-Khamisy SF. TDP1 deficiency sensitizes human cells to base damage via distinct topoisomerase I and PARP mechanisms with potential applications for cancer therapy. Nucleic acids research. 2013 Dec 12;42(5):3089-103.
Carroll J, Page TK, Chiang SC, Kalmar B, Bode D, Greensmith L, Mckinnon PJ, Thorpe JR, Hafezparast M, El-Khamisy SF. Expression of a pathogenic mutation of SOD1 sensitizes aprataxin-deficient cells and mice to oxidative stress and triggers hallmarks of premature ageing. Human molecular genetics. 2014 Sep 30;24(3):828-40.
Gómez-Herreros F, Schuurs-Hoeijmakers JH, McCormack M, Greally MT, Rulten S, Romero-Granados R, Counihan TJ, Chaila E, Conroy J, Ennis S, Delanty N. TDP2 protects transcription from abortive topoisomerase activity and is required for normal neural function. Nature genetics. 2014 May 1;46(5):516-21.
Ashour ME, Atteya R, El-Khamisy SF. Topoisomerase-mediated chromosomal break repair: an emerging player in many games. Nature reviews. Cancer. 2015 Mar 1;15(3):137.

Global Scientific Words in Biochemistry