Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory

Welcome to the Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory at the University of Maryland! We are interested the development of advanced molecular diagnostic and typing schemes using next generation sequencing for molecular typing and epidemiological investigation of infectious diseases of economic (Avian Mycoplasma) and public health significance (food borne pathogens). Our laboratory aims to harness the use and application of advanced molecular diagnostic and genotyping techniques in surveillance, prevention and control of infectious diseases to improve health and wellbeing of animals and human. We look to work closely with state diagnostic laboratory, federal agencies, and academic and private industry partners to achieve this common goal. 

Education

• PhD- The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
• MVSC- Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
• BVSC- Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Professional Experience:

• 2019 Assistant Professor- University of Maryland and Virginia-Maryland School of Veterinary Medicine, College Park, MD
• 2018 Associate director of infectious diseases molecular epidemiology laboratory, Research coordinator for Global One Health initiative at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
• 2017 Postdoctoral researcher at Avian Mycoplasma Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Columbus, Ohio, USA
• 2007-2012 GTA at Alexandria University and poultry consultant

Professional memberships:

• 2014 Member of American Association for Avian pathologists
• 2014 World Veterinary Poultry Association (WVPA)
• 2017 The AAAP epidemiology committee
• 2019 Member of American society for tropical medicine and hygiene

Research and extension program themes:

1. Developing novel diagnostic approaches for rapid identification and characterization of bacterial pathogens.
2. Developing advanced strain typing schemes for outbreak investigation and routine surveillance.
3. Applying new tools and approaches to improve the current understanding of different risk factors controlling the emergence, evolution, spread and persistence of bacteria within animal production systems and different environments.
4. Development and assessment of different intervention strategies for mitigating the negative impacts of infectious diseases
5. Communicating research findings to poultry growers and stakeholders and policy makers for implementation and field application.
6. Developing and updating curricula for educating and training of veterinary, animal and food science students
7. Developing and conducting continuing education opportunities for veterinary practitioners and technical service teams working with poultry industry
8. Offering advanced molecular typing services for Avain Mycoplasma species. (coming soon)

Molecular typing resources:

Links to Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) databases that we developed:

1. 1. Mycoplasma Synoviae  https://pubmlst.org/msynoviae/
   2. Mycoplasma Iowae https://pubmlst.org/miowae/
   3. Mycoplasma gallisepticum MLST https://pubmlst.org/mgallisepticum/.
   4. Mycoplasma gallisepticum core genome MLST https://www.cgmlst.org/ncs/schema/6402012/

Awards & Recognition:

2017    The Reed Rumsey Award in the basic research category, The American Association of Avian Pathologists meeting, Indianapolis, IN, USA.

Invention reports:

• Ghanem, Mostafa and El-Gazzar, Mohamed, 2017 “T2017-359-Development of core genome multilocus sequence typing scheme (cgMLST) as a new, standardized approach for Mycoplasma gallisepticum typing for outbreak investigation” USA, 3/21/2017, Reference #: IDF-036332.
• Ghanem, Mostafa and El-Gazzar, Mohamed, 2017 “T2017-361-Development of core genome multilocus sequence typing scheme (cgMLST) as a new, standardized approach for Mycoplasma synoviae typing for outbreak investigation” USA,3/21/2017,Reference #: IDF-036339

Selected peer-reviewed publications

1. Ghanem, M. and El-Gazzar, M. (2019). Development of Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) for Mycoplasma gallisepticum ( accepted at Avian Diseases)
2. Ghanem, M. and El-Gazzar, M. (2018). Development of Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) scheme. Veterinary microbiology, 218, 84-89.
3.  Ghanem, M., Wang, L., Zhang, Y., Edwards, S., Lu, A., Ley, D., El-Gazzar, M., (2017). Core Genome Multilocus Sequence Typing (cgMLST): A Standardized Approach for Molecular Typing of Mycoplasma gallisepticum. J. Clin. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/JCM.01145-17
4. Ghanem, M., & El-Gazzar, M. (2016). Development of multilocus sequence typing (MLST) assay for Mycoplasma iowae. Veterinary Microbiology, 195, 2-8. 
5. El-Gazzar, M., Ghanem, M., McDonald, K., Ferguson-Noel, N., Raviv, Z., & Slemons, R. D. (2016). Development of Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) for Mycoplasma synoviae. Avian Diseases, 61(1), 25-32. (P.P. Levine Award for best paper published in Avian Diseases in 2017)