Dina Hatem Riad

Iam an active member of the Environmental Microbiology theme within the Microbiology Department, faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Egypt and now a visiting postdoc at the Zoology Department, The University of Oxford, UK. My research work focuses on understanding the ecological roles for specific bacterial activities including antibiotic production, resistance, exoenzyme production and phylogenetic analysis. I have worked on the molecular detection of NRPS and PKS biosynthetic gene clusters involved in antibiotic biosynthesis in soil metagenomic libraries and Actinobacteria whole genomes. Recently, I am working on analysis of whole genomes of Actinobacteria, and further processes including genome assembly, annotation and mining for biosynthetic gene clusters. I believe that mining for a distinct antibiotic biosynthetic clusters in Actinobacteria is a promising source for the discovery of antibiotics. My research has a significant impact on antimicrobial drug resistance and social welfare.

Research Interests:

Whole genome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis of bacterial genomes to pinpoint diverse biosynthetic genes. Antimicrobial activity of organic and natural compounds against Food and blood borne pathogens. Metagenomics and analyses of microbial gene pools in soil; discovery of novel antibiotic gene clusters Antibiotic resistance of microbes and the virulent genes. Biodegradation of pollutants in the environment.

December 2022