Monah Abou Alezz bio photo

Monah Abou Alezz

This website provides research updates from Monah Abou Alezz (he/him/his), PhD. Monah is a postdoctoral researcher in the Bioinformatics Core of the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (TIGET), Milan - Italy.

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Curriculum vitae

Personal Information

  • Address: Via Adolfo Ferrata 17, Pavia 27100 (PV), Italy
  • Date of Birth: 03/04/1994
  • Nationality: Lebanese
  • Email: aboualezz.monah@hsr.it

Professional Experience

October 2020 - Current Postodoctoral researcher, San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (TIGET)

  • Bioinformatics Core
  • Projects:
    • Retrovirus-host interactions and innate immunity to gene transfer: Prof. Anna Kajaste-Rudnitski
    • Epigenetic regulation and targeted genome editing: Prof. Angelo Lombardo
    • Human hematopoietic development and disease modeling: Dr. Andrea Ditadi

September 2019 - Current Software and Data Carpentry Instructor, The Carpentries

A certified instructor by The Carpentries organization, California - USA. Teaching foundational coding and data science skills to researchers in workshops worldwide.

Workshops:

  • Rutgers University: Genomics Workshop Instructor: Project management/ Introduction to cloud computing, Jan 26 - 29, 2021
  • Augusta University: Library Carpentry Instructor: Version control with Git/ The Unix Shell, Jan 26 - Feb 04, 2021
  • NIH Network of the National Library of Medicine: Library Carpentry Instructor: SQL, Jan 07 - 08, 2021
  • Genentech, A member of the Roche group: Software Carpentry instructor: Plotting and Programming in Python, Dec 14 - 17, 2020
  • Auburn University: Library Carpentry instructor: The Unix shell and Bash scripting, Dec 07 - 11, 2020
  • Stony Brook University: Software Carpentry instructor: Programming with R, Sep 12 - 13, 2020
  • North Carolina Central University: Data Carpentry instructor: Introduction to R and data visualisation, Aug 12 - 14, 2020
  • University of Stuttgart: Software carpentry instructor: Building programs with python, Nov 21 - 22, 2019
  • University of Milano Bicocca: Data Carpentry instructor: Introduction to Python and data visualisation, Feb 14 - 15, 2019

October 2018 - Current Bioinformatics Tutor, University of Pavia

  • Bioinformatics Course of the Masters in Molecular Biology and Genetics
  • Training and practical sessions in bioinformatics tools

October 2017 - September 2020 PhD internship, Institute of Molecular Genetics Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, National Research Council

  • Laboratory of Computational Biology
  • Project: Characterization of long non-coding RNAs genomic and splicing features
  • PI: Prof. Silvia Bione

July 2017 - October 2017 ERASMUS+ Traineeship, Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences

  • Laboratory of Plant Genetics
  • Project: Bioinformatics characterization and identification of miRNAs in woody species
  • PI: Dr. Jorge A. Pinto Paiva

November 2015 - July 2017 Masters Internship, University of Pavia - Department of Biology and Biotechnology L.Spallanzani

  • Laboratory of Cell and Neurobiology
  • Influence of divalent cations on DNA methylation and the modulation of chromatin structure in an in situ ultrastructural study
  • PI: Prof. Marco Biggiogera

July 2009 - July 2015 Laboratory Assistant, Lebanese Agriculture Research Institution (LARI)

  • Department of Crop Production
    • Project: Quality analysis on commercial wheat for classification and marketing
    • PI: Eng. Chafic Stephane
  • Department of Plant Breeding and Improvement
    • Project: Identification of new promising varieties of Triticum aestivum, Hordeum vulgare, and Lens culinaris with high productivity, good grain quality and good adaptation to different climatic conditions.
    • PI: Eng. Rabih Kabalan

Education

2017 - 2020 University of Pavia PhD in Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology

2015 - 2017 University of Pavia Masters Degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics

2012 - 2015 Lebanese University Bachelor Degree in Earth and Life Sciences

Skills

Bioinformatics Skills

  • Proficient knowledge of Windows 7/8/10, MacOS and Linux operative systems
  • Proficient knowledge of Linux environment (Ubuntu)
  • Proficient knowledge of bash and shell scripting
  • Proficient knowledge of AWS (Amazon Web Services) clusters (S3 and EC2 instances) and Cloud Services
  • Proficient knowledge in machine learning approaches
  • Proficient knowledge of R programming language
  • Proficient knowledge in Python programming language
  • Basic knowledge in Perl programming language
  • Basic knowledge in SQL
  • Proficient knowledge in version control and source code management tools
  • Proficient knowledge in docker containers
  • Proficient in Next Generation Sequencing analysis tool and devoloping data analysis pipelines
  • Proficient knowledge in data mining and data visualisation tools
  • Proficient in utilizing genomic databases
  • Proficient in utilizing Galaxy web-interface
  • Proficient knowledge in Microsoft office suite
  • Image Analysis Software: Adobe Photoshop, ImageJ, Cell F

Wet Laboratory Skills

  • Proficient in Electron Microscopy Techniques: fixation, pre-embedding, dehydration, inclusion, staining (uranyl acetate, terbium, osmium amine), ultramicrotome
  • Proficient in Electron Microscopy Operations and Handling (ZEISS EM 900)
  • Proficient in Fluorescence Microscopy Operations
  • Proficient in Light Microscopy: bright field, dark field, phase contrast, DIC
  • Proficient in Electron Spectroscopic Imaging Operations
  • Proficient in Immunocytochemistry and Immunofluorescence
  • RNA, DNA and Plasmid Extraction
  • Gene Cloning
  • UV and Light Spectrophotometry
  • Proficient in PCR and Primer Designing
  • Western Blot
  • Microbiology Laboratory Techniques: gram staining, bacterial cell culture, antibiotic specificity, and bacterial identification biochemical testing.
  • Anatomy and Dissection of Vertebrates and Invertebrates
  • Protein Extraction - Bradford Protein Assay
  • ELISA Assay
  • In-vitro Plant Cell Culture

Language Skills

  • Mother-tongue Language: Arabic
  • Proficient in English (B2) and Italian (B1) Languages
  • Novice in French (A1) and Polish (A1) Languages

Awards

2019 Best Poster Prize, EMBL-EMBO Symposium: The Non-Coding Genome

2018 Fellowship Grant, AIRC Foundation

2018 Travel Grant, INTEROMICS

2017 Fellowship Grant, Besta Neurological Institute

2017 ERASMUS+ fellowship, University of Pavia

Publications

Journals

2020 Abou Alezz M, Celli L, Belotti G, Lisa A and Bione S. 2020. GC-AG Introns Features in Long Non-coding and Protein-Coding Genes Suggest Their Role in Gene Expression Regulation. Front. Genet. 11:488. doi:10.3389/fgene.2020.00488

2020 Abou Alezz M, Salviati L, Nicastro A, Belotti G, Alfieri R, Lisa A, Bione S. 2020. A Preferential enrichment of GC donor splice sites in wobble splicing. Under submission.

Software

2020 Abou Alezz M, Salviati L, Alfieri R, Bione S. 2020. GencoDymo: Data Extraction and Manipulation from the GENCODE Database. R-package version 0.2.1. https://github.com/monahton/GencoDymo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3605995

Oral Presentations and Abstracts

2020 Abou Alezz M, Celli L, Belotti G, Salviati L, Nicastro A, Alfieri R, Lisa A, Bione S. GC-AG introns features in long non-coding and protein-coding genes suggest their role in gene expression regulation - 22nd EMBL PhD Symposium: The Roaring 20s - Online conference

2020 Abou Alezz M, Celli L, Belotti G, Salviati L, Nicastro A, Alfieri R, Lisa A, Bione S. GC-AG introns features in long non-coding and protein-coding genes suggest their role in gene expression regulation” - Cancer Science Institute of Singapore: 6th RNA Biology Symposium 2020 - Online conference

2020 Abou Alezz M, Celli L, Belotti G, Salviati L, Nicastro A, Alfieri R, Lisa A, Bione S. GC-AG introns features in long non-coding and protein-coding genes suggest their role in gene expression regulation” - 25th Annual meeting of the RNA Society - Online conference

2020 Abou Alezz M, Celli L, Belotti G, Lisa A, Bione S. Unexpected features of GC-AG introns in long non-coding and protein-coding genes suggest a new role as regulatory elements – Pavia 3rd Annual Joint Symposium – LIFE SCIENCE 2020 - Pavia, Italy

2019 Abou Alezz M, Celli L, Belotti G, Bione S. Characterization of the genomic and splicing features of long non-coding RNAs using bioinformatics approaches - EMBL Symposia 2019: The Non-Coding Genome - Heidelberg, Germany

2018 Borowska M, Abou Alezz M, Jarząb M, Gomes C, Balestrazzi A, Paiva J. Preliminary overview on conserved miRNAs in Salix purpurea L. - Integrative Plant Biology Conference, IPG PAS - Poznań, Poland

2018 Abou Alezz M, Celli L, Bione S. Computational approach towards genomic characterization of human long non-coding RNA - EMBO Workshop 2018: From epigenome towards epitranscriptome in cell fate choice - Capri, Italy

2018 Masiello I, Siciliani S, Abou Alezz M, Bina V, Casali C, Stortiero M, Tollemeto V, Biggiogera M. High resolution dissection of interphase chromatin. Is 5-methylcytosine the main character in chromatin condensation? – 22nd International Chromosome Conference - Prague, Czech Republic

2017 Biggiogera M, Abou Alezz M, Bina V, Stortiero M, Tollemeto V, Masiello I. Heterogeneity of perichromatin fibril-associated factors - 25th Wilhelm Bernhard Workshop on the Cell Nucleus – Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

2016 Biggiogera M, Tollemeto V, Bina V, Abou Alezz M, Masiello I. Transcription time window applied to RNA modifications in HeLa cells – Nuclear structure and dynamics through the microscopes symposium - Pavia, Italy

Last updated: 11/02/2021