• Microbial Genomics and the Human Microbiome Project
Prof. Dr. Ramy K. Aziz, Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Qasr El-Ainy St., Cairo, Egypt.
DNA sequencing is transforming biomedical sciences at an unprecedented speed. In the past decade, the technology improvement and dropping price of high-throughput sequencing has led to a revolution in genome sequencing and pushed forward metagenomics and microbiome profiling research. This genomic revolution has been paralleled with expansion in the fields of bioinformatics and computational biology. In this presentation, various applications of genomics will be demonstrated, such as tracking epidemics, preventing infections, and monitoring and fighting the rise of antibiotic resistance. Additionally, the Human Microbiome project will be introduced, with examples of efforts to transfer microbiome analysis technologies to Egypt, such as the involvement of the microbiome in bacterial conjunctivitis, hepatitis C complications, and hospital-acquired infections. Finally, pharmacomicrobiomics, or the role of the human microbiome in drug action and metabolism, will be defined.
