Biography:

Dr. Ramy Karam Aziz received his PhD from the University of Tennessee, USA, in 2005.
Currently, he is Professor and Acting Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University. His research interests include microbial systems biology, genomics and metagenomics; microbiome and resistome analysis, and pharmacomicrobiomics (or drug-microbiome interactions). He has published one book, six book sections, three editorials, and 55 peer-reviewed articles.

Abstract:

Biology and medicine were revolutionized at the start of this millennium, with the emergence of the fields of genomics and metagenomics. Genomic analysis is about deciphering the Code of Life: the nucleic acid sequence that dictates the structure and function of every living form, from the tiniest virus to the largest mammal. Metagenomics uses DNA sequence analysis to understand communities of living organisms residing in and around humans: from human-associated bacteria (the human microbiome) to microbial communities in the most extreme environments.

This lecture introduces these recent advances in biology, highlighting their importance and applications for understanding and improving human health. For example, microbes may control diet assimilation and predispose some individuals to obesity while protecting others from obesity and diabetes. The human response pharmacotherapy depends not only on human genetics, but also on the human microbiome composition. Precision medicine attempts to understand these complex interactions and how they affect each individual differently. On another front, using genomics and metagenomics also helps in protecting humans from emerging exogenous biothreats: pathogenic bacteria and viruses, contamination of drinking water, as well as the spread of superbugs or bacterial strains that are untreatable by any of the existing antibiotics.

In conclusion, novel DNA sequencing-based technologies are revolutionizing life sciences and bringing scientific discovery to unprecedented speed, throughput, depth, and breadth that will not only advance scientific knowledge, but will also build economy through improving food and drug industry, and above all save human lives.