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Johan Ericsson

Dr. Johan Ericsson

Associate Professor

Phone

55 341 809

Office location

LAS Building, Room B138

Dr. Johan Ericsson

Associate Professor

Educational Qualifications

Postdoctoral Fellow

PhD

Entity

College of Health and Life Sciences

Biography

Dr. Ericsson attended both Uppsala and Stockholm University and obtained his PhD from Stockholm University in 1992. He then moved to the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), where he worked on the transcriptional regulation of cholesterol metabolism. 

Dr. Ericsson established his own independent research group in 1998 at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, focusing on the post-translational regulation of a family of transcription factors critical for cholesterol and lipid metabolism, i.e. the SREBP family of proteins. In 2009, Dr. Ericsson became an SFI Stokes Professor at University College Dublin, where his group continued their work on the transcriptional and post-translational regulation of lipid metabolism. Dr. Ericsson has been an Associate Professor at HBKU since May 2019.

 

Postdoctoral Fellow

Departments of Biological Chemistry and Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

1993 - 1995

PhD

Stockholm University, Department of Biochemistry.

1992

Associate Professor

Hamad Bin Khalifa University, College of Medical and Life Sciences.

2019

SFI Stokes Professor

UCD Conway Institute, School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin.

2009 - 2019

Associate Member & Group Leader

Gene Expression Laboratory, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Uppsala, Sweden.

2004 - 2008

Research Fellow

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

2002 - 2007

Assistant Member & Group Leader

Gene Expression Laboratory, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Uppsala, Sweden.

1998 - 2003

Assistant Research Professor

Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

1997 - 1998

Assistant Research Cardiologist

Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

1995 - 1997

Postdoctoral Fellow

Departments of Biological Chemistry and Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

1993 - 1995

The phosphorylation-dependent regulation of nuclear SREBP1 during mitosis links lipid metabolism and cell growth. Cell Cycle. 15: 2753-2765.

Fbw7 dimerization determines the specificity and robustness of substrate degradation. Genes Dev. 27: 2531-2536.

The ubiquitin ligase Fbxw7 controls adipocyte differentiation by targeting C/EBPalpha for degradation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107, 11817-22.

The tumor suppressor Fbxw7 regulates TGFβ signaling by targeting TGIF1 for degradation. Oncogene 29, 5322-8.

A phosphorylation cascade controls the degradation of active SREBP1. (2009) J. Biol. Chem. 284, 5885-5895.

Hyperphosphorylation regulates the activity of SREBP1 during mitosis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102, 11681–11686.

Control of lipid metabolism by phosphorylation-dependent degradation of the SREBP family of transcription factors by SCFFbw7. Cell Metabolism 1, 379-391.

  • 2009 - 2014 SFI Stokes Professor (salary support).
  • 2002 - 2007 Research Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (salary support).
  • 2004 - Fernström Award for Young Scientists
  • 1994 & 1995 - Named "The George and Edna Lievre Family Research Fellow" by the American Heart Association.
  • 1995 - Named "The Wilfried Mommaerts Research Fellow" by the American Heart Association.
  • 1994 - 1996 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the American Heart Association.
     
Mourad Ouzzani

Dr. Mourad Ouzzani

Research Director

Phone

44 541 433

Office location

1126, 1st, B

Dr. Mourad Ouzzani

Research Director

Educational Qualifications

Ph.D. in Computer Science

M.S. in Computer Science

Entity

Qatar Computing Research Institute

Biography

Mourad Ouzzani is the Research Director of the Research Engineering Group whose mission is to productize QCRI's research. The group has produced several products some of which have been commercialized through different channels. These include SIHA, a system for integrated health analytics, QARTA, an AI-enabled map engine, Zaman, a smart bilingual news app for the Arab world, SAQR a social media analytics platform with a focus on Arabic, Fehris, a powerful personal content management system, and NxPalin, a system for explainable, transparent, and Fair AI.

Mourad conducts research in data management and analytics with a focus on data integration, data cleaning, and more recently data-centric AI. Mourad has played a key role in establishing the data analytics group (now QCAI) within QCRI. He was the project lead of Rayyan, the leading systematic reviews web and mobile app, which is being used by more than 250K users worldwide. Rayyan has since graduated from QCRI to a startup, Rayyan Systems Inc.  Mourad’s research work has led to numerous publications in top tier venues including PVLDB, TKDE, SIGMOD, and ICDE. Mourad has been PI or CoPI in more than 15 grant proposals funded by NSF, NIH, DHS, and other funding agencies.

 

Ph.D. in Computer Science

Virginia Tech; Virginia, USA

2004

M.S. in Computer Science

USTHB, Algiers, Algeria

1995

B.S. in Computer Science (summa cum laude)

USTHB, Algiers, Algeria

1991

  • Data Management
  • Data Integration
  • Data Cleaning
  • Data-Centric AI

Research Director

Qatar Computing Research Institute, HBKU

2022 - Present

Principal Scientist

Qatar Computing Research Institute

2015 - 2022

Senior Scientist

Qatar Computing Research Institute

2011 - 2015

Research Associate Professor

Cyber Center, Purdue University

2010 - 2011

Research Assistant Professor

Cyber Center, Purdue University

2006 - 2010

  • VLDB Distinguished Reviewer Award 2020 and 2021.
  • ACM SIGMOD 2020 Reproducibility Award.
  • Best Demo Award (ICDE 2019 and SIGMOD 2015).
  • Senior Member of the IEEE, 2019.
  • Best of VLDB, Lightning Fast and Space E cient Inequality Joins, 2015.
  • Best Paper Award, 7th Int’l Conf. on Similarity Search and Applications,  2014.
  • Purdue Seeds of Success Award in 2009 and 2012
  • Senior Member of the ACM, 2009.

 

 

Abdulaziz Yousuf Al-Homaid

Abdulaziz Al-Homaid

Software Engineer

Phone

55 869 646

Office location

B1-RC-1264

Abdulaziz Al-Homaid

Software Engineer

Educational Qualifications

MS in Data Science and Engineering

BS in Computer Science

Entity

Qatar Computing Research Institute

Biography

Abdulaziz Al-Homaid is a Software Engineer at Qatar Computing Research Institute of Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He has been working on leveraging insights from hospital health data. Specifically, he applied signal processing algorithms to detect abnormalities in electrocardiogram data during vigorous activity. He also worked on analyzing the relationship between exercise and glucose levels. He is experienced in utilizing libraries for large language models and training them on multi-GPU machines.

MS in Data Science and Engineering

Hamad Bin Khalifa University

2016 - 2018

BS in Computer Science

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar

2010 - 2014

  • Data Science
  • Applied Machine Learning
  • Software Engineering

Software Engineer

Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University

2020 - Present

Research Associate

Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University

2020 - 2018

Teaching Assistant

College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University

2017

Portal Analyst

Ooredoo

2014 - 2016

Priyanka G Dodia

Priyanka G Dodia

Research Associate

Phone

55 804 996

Office location

HBKU B1, Floor 1

Priyanka G Dodia

Research Associate

Educational Qualifications

MS Cybersecurity

BS Computer Science

Entity

Qatar Computing Research Institute

Division

Cybersecurity

Biography

Ms. Dodia has been a committed member of Qatar Foundation since 2012. She's been actively involved with several research groups in QCRI since 2014, currently serving as a full-time researcher for the cybersecurity group. 

Her vision is to serve Qatar and fuel the country's cybersecurity intelligence and R&D advancements with the knowledge and skills she's acquired over the years.

 

MS Cybersecurity

Hamad Bin Khalifa University; Doha, Qatar

May 2018

BS Computer Science

Carnegie Mellon University, Doha, Qatar

May 2016

Higher Education

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE); MES Indian School, Doha, Qatar

May 2012

  • Computer Networks Security
  • Software Defined Networking
  • Advanced Persistent Threats
  • TOR Anonymity Networks
  • VPN Security

Research Associate

Cybersecurity Group (Project: Detecting Malicious Squatting Domains); QCRI / Full Stack Developer - Sijil Enterprise Log Analytics Platform (March 2020- Oct 2020)

Dec 2018 - Current

Research Associate Intern

Cybersecurity Group (Project: QACIP); QCRI

Sept 2017 - May 2018

Research Associate Intern

Social Computing (Project: Health Recommendation System); QCRI

Feb 2017 - May 2017

Information Security Analyst Intern

Al Jazeera Media Network (AJN)

Feb 2016 - May 2016

Student Researcher

Network Security (Project: Analyzing DNS Data for Security Threats & Malware Detection); Carnegie Mellon University - Qatar (CMUQ)

May 2015 - June 2015

Research Assistant Intern

ALT Group (Project: IYAS); QCRI

May 2014 - July 2014

  • May 2012; Computer Science Topper - CBSE 12th Board Examination; CBSE Board Delhi-India; MES Indian School, Doha, Qatar 
Sarah Khalaf

Sarah Khalaf

Master’s Student

Sarah Khalaf

Master’s Student

Dr. Mingzhan Xue

Dr. Mingzhan Xue

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr. Mingzhan Xue

Postdoctoral Researcher

Educational Qualifications

PhD in Medicine

MSc in Medical Genetics

Entity

Qatar Biomedical Research Institute

Division

Translational Oncology Research Center

Biography

Dr. Mingzhan Xue obtained his Medical degree (Bachelor of Medicine), Master’s degree in Medical Genetics, and PhD in Medicine from the School of Medicine of Xi’an Jiaotong University (known as the Xi’an Medical University before 2000) in China. Between 1984 and 1999, he was appointed Assistant Professor, Lecturer, and Associate Professor in Medical Genetics at Xi’an Medical University, China. He also undertook postdoctoral positions at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and Newcastle University and Queen Mary University of London in the UK. From 2006 to 2018, he worked as a research fellow at the University of Warwick in the UK.

 

PhD in Medicine

Xi’an Medical University, China

1997

MSc in Medical Genetics

Xi’an Medical University, China

1989

Bachelor of Clinical Medicine

Xi’an Medical University, China

1984

  • Precision Oncology
  • Breast cancer therapy
  • Cancer Epigenetics

Postdoc

Translational Oncology Research Center, Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI)

2019 - Present

Research Fellow

Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, UK

2006 - 2018

Postdoc

Clinical Pharmacology and The Genome Centre, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, UK

2003 – 2006

Postdoc

Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

2000 – 2002

Associate Professor

Medical Genetics, Xi’an Medical University, China

1984 – 1999

Dr. Ahmed Elmagarmid

Dr. Ahmed Elmagarmid

Executive Director at Qatar Computing Research Institute

Dr. Ahmed Elmagarmid

Executive Director at Qatar Computing Research Institute

Entity

Qatar Computing Research Institute

Division

Management

Biography

Dr. Ahmed K. Elmagarmid founded the Qatar Computing Research Institute in 2010 and has served as its Executive Director since. Prior to joining Qatar Foundation, Dr. Elmagarmid served as a chief scientist in Hewlett-Packard and Professor of Computer Science at Purdue University. 

Dr. Elmagarmid serves as the Vice Chair of the IT Executive Committee of Sidra Medical and Research Centre and is on the board of directors of MEEZA. He is a member of the Executive Committee of Kasra (formerly MENAPOST), the Qatar National Library, a member of the board of Governors of the Qatar Academy, a founding member of Qatar Genome Project National Committee and the Sidra External Scientific Advisory Council.  Dr. Elmagarmid served on the Arab Expat Scientist Committee that laid the plans for the research programs at QF and started the three National Research Institutes: QCRI, QBRI and QEERI.

Dr. Elmagarmid is a recipient of the NSF Presidential Young Investigator (PYI) award from President Reagan in 1988.  He is an IEEE Fellow, an ACM Fellow and an AAAS Fellow. The University of Dayton and Ohio State University have both named him among their distinguished alumni. 

Dr. Elmagarmid received his B.S. in computer science from the University of Dayton (1977) and his M.S. (1981) and Ph.D. (1985) from Ohio State University.

Dr. Ayman Al Haj Zen

Dr. Ayman Al Haj Zen

Associate Professor

Phone

31 037 729

Office location

B137A, 1st Floor, LAS Building

Dr. Ayman Al Haj Zen

Associate Professor

Educational Qualifications

PhD in Biology and Physiology of the Circulatory system

MSc in Cardiovascular Physiology

Entity

College of Health and Life Sciences

Division

Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Biography

Dr Ayman Al Haj Zen is an Associate Professor at the College of Health and Life Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He obtained his PhD from the University of Paris VII, where he studied the role of small proteoglycans in regulating vascular repair and atherosclerosis. Afterward, he moved to England and worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at various institutions, including the London Research Institute, the University of Bristol, and the University of Oxford. During this time, he focused on studying the role of cell-cell communication signaling in ischemia-induced angiogenesis and vascular regeneration.

In 2013, Dr. Al Haj Zen received an intermediate research fellowship from the British Heart Foundation (Oxford) Centre of Research Excellence allowing him to establish his independent research program in vascular biology and drug discovery at the University of Oxford. His research centered on identifying new therapeutic targets and strategies to modulate angiogenesis and vascular response in diseases such as ischemic vascular disease, atherosclerosis, vascular dementia, and cancer.

His lab develops 3D microfluidics organ-on-chip disease models combined with high throughput quantitative image-based approaches to conduct genetic and drug screens that have applications in understanding underlying disease mechanisms and developing new therapeutics and personalized medicines.

 

PhD in Biology and Physiology of the Circulatory system

University Denis Diderot, France

2006

MSc in Cardiovascular Physiology

University Denis Diderot, France

2001

Postgraduate Diploma in Biological and Medical Sciences

University Denis Diderot, France

2000

Doctor of Medicine (MD)

University of Aleppo, Syria

1998

  • Functional characterization of GWAS candidate genes of coronary artery disease
  • Target and drug discovery using a high-throughput phenotypic screening platform
  • Advanced human disease modeling using 3D microfluidics organ-on-chip and bioprinting technologies
  • Understanding the mechanisms of angiogenesis and microvasculature instability in diseases such as atherosclerosis
  • peripheral artery disease
  • diabetes
  • and cancer metastasis

Associate Professor

College of Health and Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University

2024 - Present

Assistant Professor

College of Health and Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University

2019 - 2024

Independent Research Fellow

Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (RDM), University of Oxford, United Kingdom

2013 - 2019

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

2010 - 2013

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Bristol Heart Institute, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

2008 - 2010

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Vascular Morphogenesis Lab, London Research Institute, United Kingdom

2006 - 2008

  • 2021; Paul Dudley White International Scholar Award, American Heart Association; USA
  • 2013; Intermediate Research Fellowship; British Heart Foundation (Oxford) Centre of Research Excellence; United Kingdom
  • 2009; British Society for Cardiovascular Research Prize; BSCR; United Kingdom
  • 2003; French Society of Cardiology Prize (CORDIS); French Society of Cardiology; France

Aisha Al Qahtani

Research Fellow

Aisha Al Qahtani

Research Fellow

Educational Qualifications

PhD. In Biological and Biomedical Sciences

MSc. in Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Entity

Qatar Computing Research Institute

Division

Qatar Center for Artificial Intelligence

Biography

Aisha Al-Qahtani holds a B.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Texas A&M University, an M.S. degree in biological and biomedical science and  Ph.D. in biological & biomedical science from (Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).

Her research focuses on applying electrical engineering in the biomedical field; she was among the team that worked on the biosensor design in smart sensor design at HBKU. She has recently expanded her scope of research to focus more on computational biology in the Center for Artificial Intelligence at Qatar Computing Research Institute.
 

Dr. Kabir Hassan Biswas

Dr. Kabir Hassan Biswas

Associate Professor

Office location

A-149

Dr. Kabir Hassan Biswas

Associate Professor

Educational Qualifications

PhD in Biological Sciences

MS in Biological Sciences

Entity

College of Health and Life Sciences

Division

Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Biography

Dr. Kabir Hassan Biswas joined the College of Health and Life Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University as an Assistant Professor in 2019 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2025. He earned his Master's and PhD through the prestigious Integrated PhD program at the Indian Institute of Science in 2007 and 2011, respectively. He then conducted postdoctoral research at the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University between 2011 and 2019.

Dr. Biswas’s laboratory takes an interdisciplinary approach, integrating computational methods such as AI/deep learning-based protein design, protein structure-function analysis and drug discovery and experimental techniques such as bioluminescence-based biosensors and biointerfaces with the aim to advance fundamental understanding and developing potential treatment for cancer metastasis, cardiovascular diseases, and infectious diseases. His group is also developing point-of-care tests for health and disease monitoring.

Dr. Biswas has received several competitive research grants, including Academic Research Grant, HBKU Thematic Research Grant, and Industrial Innovation Fund, and has published in high-impact journals such as Science, PNAS, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Nature Communications. He has delivered invited talks at major international conferences and received multiple awards, including the Yamaguchi Medal and the Mrs. C. V. Hanumantha Rao Medal.

PhD in Biological Sciences

Indian Institute of Science, India

2011

MS in Biological Sciences

Indian Institute of Science, India

2007

BSc in Biochemistry

Aligarh Muslim University, India

2004

  • Therapeutic protein design and drug discovery using AI/deep learning-based and other computational methods
  • Expanding capabilities of the BRET technology to engineer biosensors for biomolecule and protease activity detection
  • Computational and experimental approaches for protein structure-function analysis including the effect of disease-causing mutations
  • Supported lipid bilayer-based interface for reconstituting juxtacrine receptor-ligand signaling

Associate Professor

College of Health & Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University

2025 - Present

Assistant Professor

College of Health and Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University

2019 - 2025

Senior Research Fellow

NTU Institute of Health Technologies (HealthTech), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

2018 - 2019

Senior Research Fellow

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

2017 – 2018

Senior Research Fellow

Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore

2016 – 2017

Research Fellow

Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore

2011 – 2016

  • Stanford/Elsevier's Top 2% Scientist Rankings (2025)
  • Outstanding Faculty in Biosensors, Venus International Foundation, Chennai, India (2024)
  • Yamaguchi Medal, Asian-Pacific Association for Biomechanics, Nagoya University, Japan (2017)
  • Mrs. C V Hanumantha Rao Medal, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India (2012)
  • Senior Research Fellowship, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India (GoI) (2009)