Rania Siam is a tenured professor of microbiology at the School of Science and Engineering, The American University in Cairo. Siam served as the chair of the biology department from 2012-2018. Prior to this, she was the founding director of the Biotechnology Graduate Program from the time it was founded in 2007 until 2012. Siam's research interests lie in understanding the environmental communities residing in harsh environments, including Red Sea brine pools. Her team exploits microbial communities in extreme environments to discover bioactive compounds with unique properties that can be used in biotechnology and pharmaceutics.
Professor Siam holds a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the faculty of medicine, at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She earned an MBBCh from Ain Shams University, Faculty of Medicine. Siam held several post-doctoral positions including McGill Oncology Group, and Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She also held positions at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratories, La Jolla, CA, USA and The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA.

Talk Title: Microbial Diversity in Extreme Environments and the Quest for Bioactive Compounds with Potential Applications in Food Industry