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Curriculum vitæ |
Job objective: Assistant professor or Research Scientist position.
Highlights
- More than 14 years of research and teaching experience in outstanding international universities and centers, with strong technical master in genetics, genomics, molecular and cellular biology.
- Confident professional with a team oriented mind. Excellent multilingual and international communication skills to enhance scientific presentations, collaborations and publications.
- Creative in troubleshooting and developing solutions. Successful in being appreciated by the students and co-workers.
Relevant accomplishments
- Localized, cloned and identified the gene responsible for limb-girdle muscular dystrophy 2I (LGMD 2I) (see OMIM #607155) on chromosome 19q13.3 (see OMIM *606596) as well as other sequences (see NCBI: ABD33994).
- Developed studies on patients affected with genetic diseases from different populations as well as on cell lines of breast and colon cancer.
- Established collaborative bridges between Tunisian, Japanese and USA medical institutions for genome wide association studies.
- Wrote several grants and IRB projects and achieved collaborative agreement between international laboratories.
- Published several articles in high impact journals with a genetic and functional focus.
Education
* Ph.D. in Biology from Faculty of Science of Tunis, 2003
* M.Sc. in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Faculty of Science of Tunis, 1998
* B.Sc. in Natural Science from Faculty of Science of Tunis, 1996
Employment history
* Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta GA, USA, Senior Postdoctoral Associate, 2007 ~ Now
* Emory University, Atlanta GA, Postdoctoral fellow in Molecular/Cell Biology, 2004 ~ 2007
* National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan, Research Scientist, 2000 ~ 2003
* National Institute of Neurology, Tunis, Tunisia, Research Geneticist, 1997 ~ 2000
Teaching and tutoring
- Taught all levels of Natural Sciences, Avicenne High School, Tunis, 1997 ~ 1998
- Taught all levels of Biology and Geology, Nabil Private High School, Tunis, 1998 ~ 2000
- Supervised young investigators laboratory training. Winship Cancer of Emory University, 2006
- Taught grad courses in genetics and biochemistry, Morehouse School of Medicine, 2007 ~ 2010
- Assisted grad students in research projects, Emory University, 2007 ~ 2010
- Tutored student summer investigators, Morehouse School of Medicine, 2008 ~ 2009
- Carried out several oral and poster presentations at international scientific meetings, 1998 ~ 2010
Other training and achievements
- Helped the sickle cell awareness and data collection for the sickle cell trust and the Manchester project. Mandeville Regional Hospital, Mandeville, Jamaica, 2008
- accomplished the Sickle Cell Disease and hemoglobinopathies basic molecular diagnostic training. Medical College of Georgia Sickle Cell Center, Augusta, GA, 2007
- Collaborated with Keio University, Tokyo, for positional cloning and DNA sequencing training, 2000 ~ 2001
- Focus on the basic methods of biochemistry applied to Muscular dystrophies, La Salpetrière Hôpital, Paris, France, 1998 ~ 1999
- Accomplished the pedagogic training for Natural Science Teachers, Nabeul, Tunisia, 1998
- Attended the Scuba-Diving technical and ecologic training, Zembra Island, Tunisia, 1996
- Achieved the under-water photography training, Tabarka, Tunisia, 1997
- Official scientific judge, Spelman College Research Day, Atlanta, 2006 ~ 2007
- Peer reviewed several articles in high impact journals, 2001 ~ 2010
Techniques mastered
- Molecular biology: Genotyping and linkage analysis, PCR and RT-PCR, positional cloning, sequencing on ABI 3100, ABI 377 and ABI 310, real-time and quantitative PCR, gene cloning, microarray analysis, phage and BAC Library screening, mutagenesis assay.
- Cell biology: cell culture, real-time cell spreading and attachment experiments, real-time cell scratch assay, gene transfections, gene promoter studies, confocal microscopy, Immunohistochemistry, Cell anoikis, flow cytometry studies, Luciferase assay, gene over-expression, XTT cell proliferation assay, biotinylation, cell uptake assay, cell monolayer permeability and cellular electrophysiology studies, Lymphocyte culture.
- Biochemistry and proteins: immumo-precipitation, protein binding assay, Western blot, rabbit polyclonal antibody construction, antibody characterization, affinity chromatography.
- bioinformatics and statistical tools.
Awards
- Received the young researcher award for the 4th World Muscle Society Congress, Antalya, Turkey, 1999
- Granted the travel award for the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 2005
Specialized skills
- Fluent in French, English and Arabic (all dialects). I can speak and understand Italian. I am learning Spanish, Croatian and Japanese.
- Expert in all the MS Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Outlook and related), web design software (Adobe Dreamweaver...), Photography edition (Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator...) and many others. I am also familiar with hardware computers and FTP protocols.
Volunteering
- Active volunteer (gardening and translation research) at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center, Atlanta. Editor in chief of the Carter Center Volunteer Newsletter.
- Webmaster, designer, photograph artist and founder of the environmental oriented website www.surfingcarpet.com.
- Environmental Activist through Internet blogging and online discussion forums.
Interests
I like surfing, wind surfing, snowboarding, scuba diving, reading, painting, ecology, animals and peace.
Status: Permanent Resident in the USA. Citizen of Croatia and of Tunisia.
List of Publications
-Driss A, Stiles JK. Genetic polymorphisms of susceptibility to malaria. PloS Genetics, under construction. - Asare K, Gee BE, Stiles JK, Wilson NO, Driss A, Quarshie A, Adams RJ, Kutlar A, Hibbert JM. Plasma interleukin-1-beta concentration is associated with stroke in sickle cell disease. Cytokine. 2010 Jan;49(1):39-44. Epub 2009 Nov 8.PMID: 19900820. - Driss A, Asare KO, Hibbert JM, Gee BE, Adamkiewicz TV, Stiles JK. Sickle cell disease in the post genomic era: a monogenic disease with a polygenic phenotype. Genomics Insights, Libertas Academica, 2009:2 23–48.
- Driss A. Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy, Autosomal Recessive (2I). Encyclopedia of Molecular Mechanisms of Disease. (chapter). 2008 Edition. ISBN: 978-3-540-67136-7 - Gee BE, Manlove-Simmons JJ, Huang Y, Asare K, Driss A, Wang G, Anderson LM, Gibbons GH. “Gene Expression Profiling of Human Endothelial Progenitor Cells Differentiated From Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells”. Blood 2007, 110 (11):46b
- Nduati V, Yan Y, Dalmasso G, Driss A, Sitaraman S, Merlin D. Leptin transcriptionally enhances peptide transporter (hPepT1) expression and activity via the CREB and Cdx2 transcription factors. J Biol Chem. 2007 Jan 12; 282(2):1359-73. PMID: 16963449
- Charrier L, Driss A, Yan Y, Nduati V, Klapproth JM, Sitaraman SV, Merlin D. hpepT1 mediates bacterial tripeptide fMLP uptake in human monocytes. Laboratory Investigation, Lab Invest. 2006 May;86(5):490-503. PMID: 16568107 - Driss A, Charrier L, Yan Y, Nduati V and Merlin D. Dystroglycan Receptor is Involved in Integrin Activation in Intestinal Epithelia. American Journal of Physiology, Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2005 Dec 15. PMCID: PMC2738938
- Kucharzik T, Lugering A, Yan Y, Driss A, Charrier L, Sitaraman S and Merlin D. Activation of Epithelial CD98 Glycoprotein Enhances Colonic Inflammation. Laboratory Investigation, 2005, 85(7): 932-41. PMID: 15880135
- Amouri R, Driss A, Murayama K, Kefi M, Nishino I, Hentati F. Allelic heterogeneity of GNE gene mutation in two Tunisian families with autosomal recessive inclusion body myopathy. Neuromuscular Disorders. 2005; 15: 361–363. PMID: 15833430
- Charrier L, Yan Y, Driss A, Laboisse CL, Sitaraman SV, Merlin D. ADAM-15 Inhibits Wound Healing in Human Intestinal Epithelial Cell Monolayers. Am J Physiol Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. 2005 Feb;288(2):G346-53. PMID: 15358598
- Kefi M, Amouri R, Driss A, Ben Hamida C, Ben Hamida M, Kunkel LM, Hentati F. Phenotype and sarcoglycan expression in Tunisian LGMD
- Driss A, Noguchi S, Sasaki T, Amouri R, Sugie K, Hayashi Y, Shimizu N, Minoshima S, Kudoh J, Hentati F and Nishino I. Fukutin-related protein gene mutations in the original limb- girdle muscular dystrophy 2I. Neurology 2003; 60: 1341-1344. PMID: 12707439
- Nishino I, Noguchi S, Murayama K, Driss A, Sugie K, Oya Y, Nagata T, Chida K, Takahashi T, Takusa Y, Ohi T, Nishimiya J, Sunohara N, Ciafaloni E, Kawai M, Aoki M, Nonaka I. Distal myopathy with rimmed vacuoles is allelic tohereditary inclusion body myopathy. Neurology 2002 59: 1689-1693. PMID: 12473753
- Driss A, Amouri R, Ben Hamida C, Souilem S, Gouider-Khouja N, Ben Hamida M, Hentati F. A new locus for autosomal recessive limb-girdle muscular dystrophy in a large consanguineous Tunisian family maps to chromosome 19q13.3. Neuromuscular Disorders 2000;10(4-5): 240-246 PMID: 10838249
Last update Mar 2010