• A population study of clinically actionable genetic variation affecting drug response from the Middle East 

      Jithesh, Puthen Veettil; Abuhaliqa, Mohammed; Syed, Najeeb; Ahmed, Ikhlak; El Anbari, Mohammed; ... more authors ( Nature Research , 2022 , Article)
      Clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics will help in personalizing drug prescriptions and alleviate the personal and financial burden due to inefficacy and adverse reactions to drugs. However, such implementation is ...
    • Cholinergic and dopaminergic neuronal differentiation of human adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells. 

      Marei, Hany El Sayed; El-Gamal, Aya; Althani, Asma; Afifi, Nahla; Abd-Elmaksoud, Ahmed; ... more authors ( Wiley , 2018 , Article)
      Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent cells that can differentiate into various cell types such as cartilage, bone, and fat cells. Recent studies have shown that induction of MSCs in vitro by growth factors including ...
    • Conception, Implementation, and Integration of Heterogenous Information Technology Infrastructures in the Qatar Biobank 

      Fthenou, Eleni; Al Emadi, Ameena; Mahal, Fahad F; Chettupuzhakaran, Leo T; Al Thani, Asma; ... more authors ( Mary Ann Liebert , 2019 , Article)
      The overall goal of the Qatar Biobank (QBB) is to collect, manage, and distribute high-quality human biospecimens with appropriate clinical and/or research annotation and associated phenotypic data, aiming to be an important ...
    • Differentiation of human olfactory bulb-derived neural stem cells toward oligodendrocyte. 

      Marei, Hany E; Shouman, Zeinab; Althani, Asma; Afifi, Nahla; A, Abd-Elmaksoud; ... more authors ( Wiley , 2018 , Article)
      In the central nervous system (CNS), oligodendrocytes are the glial element in charge of myelin formation. Obtaining an overall presence of oligodendrocyte precursor cells/oligodendrocytes (OPCs/OLs) in culture from different ...
    • Gene Expression Profiling of Embryonic Human Neural Stem Cells and Dopaminergic Neurons from Adult Human Substantia Nigra 

      Marei, Hany E.; Althani, Asma; Afifi, Nahla; Michetti, Fabrizio; Pescatori, Mario; ... more authors ( Public Library of Science , 2011 , Article)
      Neural stem cells (NSC) with self-renewal and multipotent properties serve as an ideal cell source for transplantation to treat neurodegenerative insults such as Parkinson’s disease. We used Agilent’s and Illumina Whole ...
    • Gene Expression Profiling of Embryonic Human Neural Stem Cells and Dopaminergic Neurons from Adult Human Substantia Nigra 

      Marei , Hany; Althani , Asma; Afifi , Nahla; Michetti , Fabricio; Pescatori , Mario; ... more authors ( Hamad bin Khalifa University Press (HBKU Press) , 2012 , Conference Paper)
      Neural stem cells (NSC) with self-renewal and multipotent properties serve as an ideal cell source for transplantation to treat neurodegenerative insults such as Parkinson's disease. We used Agilent's and Illumina Whole ...
    • Glioma extracellular vesicles for precision medicine: prognostic and theragnostic application 

      Marei, Hany E.; Althani, Asmaa; Afifi, Nahla; Hasan, Anwarul; Caceci, Thomas; ... more authors ( Springer , 2022 , Article Review)
      EV produced by tumour cells carry a diverse population of proteins, lipids, DNA, and RNA molecules throughout the body and appear to play an important role in the overall development of the disease state, according to ...
    • Human Olfactory Bulb Neural Stem Cells Expressing hNGF Restore Cognitive Deficit in Alzheimer's Disease Rat Model 

      Marei, Hany E.; Farag, Amany; Al-Thani, Asma; Afifi, Nahla; Abd-Elmaksoud, Ahmed; ... more authors ( Wiley , 2015 , Article)
      In this study, we aim to demonstrate the fate of allogenic adult human olfactory bulb neural stem/progenitor cells (OBNSC/NPCs) transplanted into the rat hippocampus treated with ibotenic acid (IBO), a neurotoxicant ...
    • Human olfactory bulb neural stem cells mitigate movement disorders in a rat model of Parkinson's disease. 

      Marei, Hany E S; Lashen, Samah; Farag, Amany; Althani, Asmaa; Afifi, Nahla; ... more authors ( Wiley , 2015 , Article)
      Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurological disorder characterized by the loss of midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons. Neural stem cells (NSCs) are multipotent stem cells that are capable of differentiating into different ...
    • The Implementation of an Integrated Management System at Qatar Biobank 

      Hannigan, Linda; Deyab, Ghada; Al Thani, Asmaa; Al Marri, Ajayeb; Afifi, Nahla ( Mary Ann Liebert , 2019 , Article)
      Qatar Biobank (QBB) is a platform that will make vital health research possible through its collection of samples and information on health and lifestyle from the local population of Qatar. The goal of QBB is to collect, ...
    • Over-Expression of hNGF in Adult Human Olfactory Bulb Neural Stem Cells Promotes Cell Growth and Oligodendrocytic Differentiation 

      Marei, Hany E.; Althani, Asmaa; Afifi, Nahla; Abd-Elmaksoud, Ahmed; Bernardini, Camilla; ... more authors ( Public Library of Science ONE Staff , 2013 , Article)
      The adult human olfactory bulb neural stem/progenitor cells (OBNC/PC) are promising candidate for cell-based therapy for traumatic and neurodegenerative insults. Exogenous application of NGF was suggested as a promising ...
    • Pandemic COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2: genetic structure, vaccination, and therapeutic approaches 

      Marei, Hany E.; Althani, Asmaa; Afifi, Nahla; Pozzoli, Giacomo; Caceci, Thomas; ... more authors ( Springer , 2021 , Article Review)
      We give a summary of SARS-genetic CoV-2’s structure and evolution, as well as current attempts to develop efficient vaccine and treatment methods for SARS-CoV-2 infection, in this article. Most therapeutic strategies are ...
    • Qatar Biobank Cohort Study: Study Design and First Results. 

      Thani, Asma Al; Fthenou, Eleni; Paparrodopoulos, Spyridon; Marri, Ajayeb Al; Shi, Zumin; ... more authors ( Oxford University Press (OUP) , 2019 , Article)
      The authors describe the design, implementation and results of Qatar Biobank (QBB) for the first 10,000 participants. QBB is a prospective population-based cohort study in Qatar, established in 2012. QBB's primary goal was ...
    • Qatar Biobank: A Paradigm of Translating Biobank Science into Evidence-Based Health Care Interventions 

      Fthenou, Eleni; Al Thani, Asma; Al Marri, Ajaeb; Afifi, Nahla ( Mary Ann Liebert , 2019 , Article)
      Biobank science is progressively becoming indispensable for the development of novel diagnostic tools in health care, by pairing standardized high-quality biological samples, phenotypic, and omics data required to best ...
    • The Qatar Biobank: background and methods 

      Al Kuwari, Hanan; Al-Thani, Asma; Al Marri, Ajayeb; Al Kaabi, Abdulla; Abderrahim, Hadi; ... more authors ( BioMed Central , 2015 , Article)
      Background: The Qatar Biobank aims to collect extensive lifestyle, clinical, and biological information from up to 60,000 men and women Qatari nationals and long-term residents (individuals living in the country for ≥15 ...
    • Qatar Biobank: COVID-19 biorepository project 

      Afifi, Nahla; Fthenou, Eleni; El Deeb, Marwa; Frenneaux, Michael; Al Thani, Asma; ... more authors ( Hamad bin Khalifa University Press (HBKU Press) , 2021 , Article)
      Background: The rapid spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its resulting disease (COVID-19) is one of the greatest global public health crisis of the recent decades 1 . The COVID-19 ...
    • The QChip1 knowledgebase and microarray for precision medicine in Qatar 

      Rodriguez-Flores, Juan L.; Messai-Badji, Radja; Robay, Amal; Temanni, Ramzi; Syed, Najeeb; ... more authors ( Nature Research , 2022 , Article)
      Risk genes for Mendelian (single-gene) disorders (SGDs) are consistent across populations, but pathogenic risk variants that cause SGDs are typically population-private. The goal was to develop "QChip1," an inexpensive ...
    • Willingness to participate in genome testing: a survey of public attitudes from Qatar 

      Abdul-Rahim, Hanan; Ismail, Said; Hasan, Amel; Fadl, Tasnim; Khaled, Salma; ... more authors ( Springer , 2020 , Article)
      Genomics has the potential to revolutionize medical approaches to disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, but it does not come without challenges. The success of a national population-based genome program, like the ...