Apply Now 
Dr. Omar El Agnaf
Principal Investigator Joint Professor
Entity
Qatar Biomedical Research Institute
College of Health and Life Sciences
Divison
Neurological Disorders Research Center
Biography
Dr. Omar El-Agnaf is considered a pioneer in the field of Parkinson’s and related neurodegenerative diseases. He was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Biochemistry in 1997 at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. Between 1997 to 1999, he worked as a postdoctoral scientist at the School of Biology and Biochemistry, Queen’s University Belfast. Following this, Dr. El-Agnaf undertook an additional two-year post-doctoral position at St. George’s Medical School in London. In 2001, he was awarded a Research Fellowship from the Parkinson’s Disease Society-UK to establish his research group at Lancaster University. After completing his Research Fellowship in 2004, Dr. El-Agnaf joined the College of Medicine at UAE University and was appointed to the Biochemistry Department. In September 2014, he joined Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) at Qatar Foundation (QF), and in 2016 he was appointed Acting Executive Director of Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), part of HBKU, and became the Executive Director (2018 - 2022).
Dr. El-Agnaf has successfully directed QBRI’s efforts towards translational research to improve and transform healthcare through innovations in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases affecting Qatar and the region. Under his leadership, QBRI has realized significant achievements. This has included securing extramural research funding to establish robust alliances with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to winning the 2017 Arab Best Research Institution of the Year Award.
Since his move to the region in 2004, Dr. El-Agnaf has assembled an excellent research team that has positioned itself at the forefront of neuroscience research internationally, building a reputable portfolio in the Middle East and beyond, and has been successful in attracting an array of scientific funding from prestigious international funding agencies. Individually, his discoveries have greatly impacted the scientific research community, provided further insight into the molecular pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease, and offered new opportunities for the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic tools for the disease.
Dr. El-Agnaf is frequently invited as a speaker at international scientific and clinical meetings and is currently a member of the editorial boards of several international journals. Publications in high-ranking scientific journals validate Dr. El-Agnaf's track record of superior basic and translational research productivity. He has published nearly 137 refereed articles, with citations exceeding 13,350 (to date), and possesses an h-index of 61.
- Identifying Potential Molecular Biomarkers for Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Identifying Novel Biomarkers for Type-2 Diabetes- associated Complications and Comorbidities
- Development of Novel Diagnostic and Therapeutic Tools for Parkinson's Diseases and Related Disorders
- Engineering Antibodies for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Approaches
- Non-viral Mediated Delivery of CRISPR/Cpf1 to the Central Nervous System for Efficient Non-Homologous Gene Correction in Neuronal Cells
As part of Dr. El-Agnaf’s academic tenure (Mentoring)
He has supervised numerous graduate and PhD students.
2001 to 2018
Teaching, HBKU, Postgraduate Course (Professor)
Advanced Biochemistry
Teaching, HBKU, Postgraduate Course (Professor)
Molecular and Cellular Biology of Neurodegenerative diseases.
Teaching, HBKU, Postgraduate Course (Professor)
Advanced Techniques in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Selected Patents
Selected Publications
- Complex I reductions in the nucleus basalis of Meynert in Lewy body dementia: the role of Lewy bodies. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 8(1):103. doi: 10.1186/s40478-020-00985-8.
- CSF Biomarkers Reflecting Protein Pathology and Axonal Degeneration Are Associated with Memory, Attentional, and Executive Functioning in Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease. Int J Mol Sci. 21(22):8519. doi: 10.3390/ijms21228519.
- Expression, purification and characterization of α-synuclein fibrillar specific scFv from inclusion bodies. PLoS One;15(11):e0241773. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241773.
- Safety and immunogenicity of the α-synuclein active immunotherapeutic PD01A in patients with Parkinson's disease: a randomised, single-blinded, phase 1 trial. Lancet Neurol. 19(7):591-600. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(20)30136-8.
- Fibrillar form of α-synuclein-specific scFv antibody inhibits α-synuclein seeds induced aggregation and toxicity. Sci Rep. 10(1):8137. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-65035-8.
- M. Goillandeau, C. Perier, C. Estrada, N. Garcia-Carrillo, A. Recasens, N.N. Vaikath, O.M.A. El-Agnaf, M.T. Herrero, P. Derkinderen, M. Vila, J.A. Obeso, B. Dehay, E. Bezard (2020). Identification of distinct pathological signatures induced by patient-derived α-synuclein structures in nonhuman primates. Sci Adv. 6(20):eaaz9165. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz9165.
- Investigating the presence of doubly phosphorylated α-synuclein at tyrosine 125 and serine 129 in idiopathic Lewy body diseases. Brain Pathol. 2020 Jul;30(4):831-843. doi: 10.1111/bpa.12845.
- P. Derkinderen, B. Dehay, E. Bezard (2020). Bidirectional gut-to-brain and brain-to-gut propagation of synucleinopathy in non-human primates. Brain.143(5):1462-1475. doi: 10.1093/brain/awaa096.
- CSF total and oligomeric α-Synuclein along with TNF-α as risk biomarkers for Parkinson's disease: a study in LRRK2 mutation carriers. Transl Neurodegener. 9(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s40035-020-00192-4.
- CSF or serum neurofilament light added to α-Synuclein panel discriminates Parkinson's from controls. Mov Disord. 35(2):288-295. doi: 10.1002/mds.27897.
- α-Synuclein BAC transgenic mice exhibit RBD like behaviour and hyposmia: a prodromal Parkinson's disease model. Brain;143(1):249-265. doi: 10.1093/brain/awz380.
- Lewy Body Pathology Is More Prevalent in Older Individuals With Mitochondrial Disease Than Controls. Acta Neuropathol. 139(1):219-221.
- Towards Acoustic Radiation Free Lamb Wave Resonators for High-resolution Gravimetric Biosensing. IEEE Sensors Journal, (In press).
- Generation of monoclonal antibodies against phosphorylated α-Synuclein at serine 129: Research tools for synucleinopathies. Neurosci Lett. 7;725:134899. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2020.134899.
- Inhibition of alpha-synuclein seeded fibril formation and toxicity by herbal medicinal extracts. BMC Complement Med Ther. 6;20(1):73. doi: 10.1186/s12906-020-2849-1.
- 2020 – 2024. NPRP Program (QNRF, Qatar): Corneal Confocal Microscopy A rapid diagnostic and prognostic imaging biomarker for neurodegeneration in dementia. Co- Principal Investigator
- 2019 – 2024. Cluster Program (QNRF, Qatar): Qatar Diabetes Prevention Program (QDPP). Co- Principal Investigator
- 2019 – 2022. Interdisciplinary Research Program (QBRI, HBKU): Identifying Potential Biomarkers for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Principal Investigator
- 2019 – 2022. Interdisciplinary Research Program (QBRI, HBKU): Identifying Biomarkers for Diabetes Complications. Principal Investigator
- 2016 – 2019: PNRP-QNRF (Doha, Qatar) > Development of Novel Diagnostic and Therapeutic Tools for Parkinson's Diseases and Related Disorders. Principal Investigator
- 2016 – 2019: Lundbeck A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark) > Development of antibody-based assays for detection of alpha-synuclein species in human CSF and plasma. Co-Investigator
- 2015 – 2018: PNRP-QNRF (Doha, Qatar) > Application of conformation-specific antibodies to biomarker development for Parkinson’s disease. Principal Investigator
- 2016-2018: Micheal J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (NY, USA). > Pre-analytical extracellular esicle enrichment for increased reliability for alpha-synuclein detection in plasma and CSF. Co-investigator.
- Micheal J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (NY, USA) > Validation of CSF alpha-synuclein species as surrogate biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease. Principal Investigator