• Prof. Dr. Naglaa A. Abdallah
Chief of Party for the Center of Excellence for Agriculture and a Professor of Genetics and Former Head Genetics and Biotechnology Program Coordinator at Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University.
Dr. Naglaa Abdallah Chief of Party Center of Excellence for Agriculture Prof. Naglaa A. Abdallah is the Chief of Party for the Center of Excellence for Agriculture and a Professor of Genetics and Former Head Genetics and Biotechnology Program Coordinator at Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University. In 2009, she was appointed to be the Editor-In-Chief of GM crops, The first international peer-reviewed journal of its kind to focus exclusively on genetically modified crops with an IF2.913 (https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/kgmc20/current). In August 2011, she was nominated to be the Director of Egypt Biotechnology Information Center (EBIC), part of a growing network of Biotechnology Information Centers (BICs) of ISAAA’s Global Knowledge Centre on Crop Biotechnology popularly known as KC – a unique initiative on crop biotechnology established way back in 2000 to meet the growing need for biotech crops related credible information in Asia, Africa and Latin America. , she signed an agreement with the President of the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry lands (ACSAD) - League of Arab States, to develop and implement collaborate projects and became a consultant to ACSAD to establish the Arab Biotechnology Network. Dr. Abdallah is the Head of National Biotechnology Network for Experts (NBNE) funded by Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), which is a collaborative and networking platform for researchers, media, private sectors and decision makers who are interested in the field of Biotechnology. She has organized numerous workshops to build bridges between researchers, farmers, media and decision makers. In 2015, she was selected to be among the 100 most influential people in the field of biotechnology based on a survey of biotechnology and biosciences leaders who nominated biotechnology experts in industry, academia, policy, finance, law and beyond. She has more than 25 years’ experience in international training/outreach programs. She has conducted and participated in preparation of international conferences, workshops and training programs. She hosted and supervised theses/dissertations for international students (Sudan, Kuwait, Syria, Saudi Arab and Jordan) and supervised and reviewed MSc and PhD thesis at National and International levels. Dr. Abdallah is a member of the Institutional Biosafety Committee at Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University. In 1991, she joined the Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute as senior scientists where she did most of her researches. Her research focuses on plant molecular Genetics and bioinformatics. She is particularly interested in developing transgenic plants resistant to pathogens and better suited for environmental challenges. Dr. Abdallah obtained her PhD from Cairo University in 1986 and was appointed Professor of Genetics in the same University at 1996. In 1989, Dr. Abdallah was nominated to attend the biotechnology research program at German Research Center for Biotechnology (GBF) Braunschweig, Germany. In 1992 she received a Peace Fellowship to attend the Scripps Research Institute where she started to explore the field of GM crops. She worked as a visiting scientist at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, San Louis, Missouri and has conducted collaborative relationship with the group. Motivated to create a better future for Egyptian farmers and to fight poverty, Dr. Abdallah’s research has focused on genetically modified approaches to develop higher quality crops with greater resistance to biotic and abiotic stressors. She studied and gained a hand on the transformation tourniquets and was in charge to transfer the technology to Egypt. Motivated by creating a better future for the Egyptian farmers and to fight poverty, she focused her research in developing genetically modified crops that have a better quality and have a better resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. She was invited as a visiting scientist in Donald Danforth Plant Science Center several times to continue her collaborative work with ILATB. Dr. Abdallah is engaged as PI or Co-PI in several scientific projects for producing transgenic plants resistant to biotic stresses (virus, fungi and insects) and abiotic stresses (heat, salt) funded by ABSP, US-Egypt S and T, MUCIA-AERI and ICARDA. For her research she was awarded the Genetic Engineering award from Cairo University for the year 1998-1999 and the Biotechnology State award for scientific encouragement in Agricultural Biotechnology for the year 2000-2001. Dr. Abdallah has published 77 scientific paper in local and international journals.
