Biography:

Masters in Genetics ; Biological Development.

Master in Human Genetics

Diplma in Statistics and in statistics applied to therapy

Paediatrician Speciality.

Chief of Congenital and Hereditary Diseases Departement Charles Nicolle Hospital Tunis

Coordinator of Master Degree : Human genetics (new creation ). Faculte de Medecine de Tunis since 1995.

Director of Laboratory research: Human Genetics Laboratory Facult de Mdecine de Tunis.

Member of technical commission of Arab League genetic diseases prevention and genetic counselling 1994-2004.

Tunisian representant in committee of govermental experts to prepare a draft declaration on the human genome UNESCO 1999.

Partner in EUMEDIS project (Euromediterraneen network) 2003-2005

Organisation of scientific meetings and Practical workshops:

- Human genetics, - Medical genetics - Handicap prevention, - Bioethics. Practical workshops in molecular biology , cytogenetics. - The 4th international course in clinical genetics

WHO short term Consultant

Council Member Center of Arab Genetics Studies (CAGS) november 2005

Member of scientific societies.

 Socit Tunisienne des Sciences Mdicales  Socit Tunisienne de Pdiatrie  American Society of Human Genetics  European Society of Cytogenetics

Member of associations for handicap. Several scientific publications. Distinctions: UNESCO-LOREAL Award For Women in Science 2006. LATIUM tra Europa e Mediterraneo Award for Scientific Research Rome Italy, June 2007.

Abstract:

Epigenetics And Genome Evolution In Tumour Cells.

Genotype-phenotype correlation aims to determine the degree of relation between the genotype and its expression. During several decades we considered that the phenotype was the visible expression of the genotype. As monozygotic twins share exactly the same genome; they are supposed to have an identical phenotype during the whole life. It appears that this dogma is not available at all since the cell activity and evolution may be different for the same genotype in several cases. In fact we know from long time that monozygotic twins have not always the same diseases pattern, which was demonstrated for example in cancer pathologies. This was an argument to declare and confirm that cancer in most cases is not hereditary. There are molecular mechanism in the cell and the nuclear other than classical ones. More recently we explained that factor different from gene expression are at the origin of the difference, it is epigenetics. A fundamental characteristic of epigenetics is that the same genome can show alternative phenotypes, which are based in different epigenetic states. One of the fundamental epigenetics phenomena is histones methylation. How histone modifications influence transcriptional competence is incompletely understood. Histones can also be modified by phosphorylation, ubiquitination, and ADP-ribosylation,. Several aspects of epigenetics are strongly linked to non-coding RNAs, especially small RNAs that are implicated in gene expression regulation in complex organisms. Two questions are there are other factors which play a consistent role in cancer process. And what is the role of epigenetic in evolution.