Dr. Mahmoud M. Saker

Name: Mahmoud M. Saker Address: Plant Biotechnology Department, National Research Center, Dokki. Telephone: 002-02-7617186 (Work) Telephone: 002-02-7222016 (Home) Fax: 002-02-3370931 Mobile: : 0101771691 E-mail: sakrmahmoud@yahoo.com

• Education
  1. B.Sc. Botany 1987 (Excellent with honors), Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Egypt.
  2. M.Sc.1992 (Plant Tissue Culture), Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Egypt.
  3. Ph.D.1995 (Plant Molecular Biology), Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Egypt.
  
   
• Positions
  1. Researcher Assistant, Plant Cell & Tissue Culture Dept., (1988-1992).
  2. Associate Researcher, Plant Cell & Tissue Culture Dept., (1992- 1995).
  3. Researcher, Plant Cell & Tissue Culture Dept., (1995 - Feb., 2001).
  4. Associate Prefessor, Plant Biotechnology Dept., (Feb., 2001 -Feb., 2006).
  5. Professor of Plant Biotechnology since Febrauary, 2006.
  
   
• Awards
• National Research Center prize for scientific encrougment in biology, (1998).
• State prize for Scientific encrougment in advanced biotechnology, (1999).
   
• Memberships
  1. A member of administration council, Egyptian Society for Genetic Engineering.
  2. Egyptian Society for Genetics and Cytology.
  
   
• Scientific activities
  1. Published 58 research papers and 1 book.
  2. Serve as advisor for the Third World Academy of Science (TWAS), Trieste, Italy The principal Investigators (PI) of 8 finished and on going research projects in the field of plant biotechnology.
  3. Attained 15 international and national conferences in plant biotechnology.
  4. Obtained several Post Doc fellowships and scientific missions (Germany, Italy, Canada, India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Lebanon, USA).
  
   
• Fellowships and Scientific Missions
  1. Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fellowship, Pavia University, Italy (Nov.,1994-June, 1995).
  2. ICGEB short term fellowship, Pavia University, Italy (July-September, 1995).
  3. DFG Fellowship, Institute for Resistance Research and Pathogen Diagnostic, Germany (June-August, 1997).
  4. DFG Fellowship, Institute for Resistance Research and Pathogen Diagnostic, Germany (June-August, 1998).
  5. Pavia University, Italy (April-May, 1998).
  6. Insitute for Resistance Research and Pathogen Diagnostic, Germany (May-December, 1999).
  7. Insitute for Resistance Research and Pathogen Diagnostic, Germany (July-September, 1999).
  8. Plant Biotechnology Institute, Canada (August-September, 2002).
  9. ICGEB, Delhi, India (June-July, 2003).
  10. Kansas State University (July, 2005).
  11. German ministry of Education, DAAD and DFG headquarters in Bonn, Germany (March, 2006).
  
   
• Research Projects
  The principal Investigators (PI) of several national and International projects in the field of plant biotechnology.
• In-house projects
  1. Project no. 1/1/1/1/2/9: Production of transgenic potato plants resistance to PVY virus under Egyptian conditions (1997-1999).
  2. Project no. 3/9/5: Towards transgenic wheat (2001-2004).
  3. Project no. 1/46/6: In vitro propagation and molecular characterization of papaya (2002-2004).
• National Projects
  
   
  1. PI of the project entitled: Molecular characterization and isolation of pest resistance genes in Egyptian barley, (2004-2007), funded by the national strategy for genetic engineering and biotechnology, ASRT, Egypt.
  2. Acting as CPI and a team member of several research projects going on PBD (National Research Center), GERC (Cairo University) and GEBRI (Minufiya University).
  
   
• International Projects
  1. PI of the multinational project entitled: Survey, preservation and fingerprinting of Arabic date palm germplasm. Arabic Organization for Education, Science and Culture, Arabic League (2000-2003).
  2. PI of the project no. CRP/EGY03-03 (b) entitled: Towards production of transgenic date palm resistant to notorious pests, (2003-2006), funded by ICGEB.
  3. PI of the USA-Egyptian project entitled: Development of molecular markers linked to pest resistance genes in barley population, (2004-2006), funded by USA-Egypt partnership program.
  
   
• National Cooperation
  1. Genetic Engineering Research Center, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University.
  2. AGERI, Ministry of Agriculture.
  3. Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University.
  4. Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Cairo University.
  5. Agriculture Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture.
  6. GEBRI, Minufiya University.
  
   
• International Agreements
  1. PI of the German-Egyptian project entitled: Development of RAPD markers linked to disease resistance genes in barley population (1999-2001).
  2. PI of the Italian-Egyptian project entitled: Obtainment of transgenic rice plants resistant to fungal diseases and with a reduced growth cycle (2004-2007).
  3. PI of the signed agreement between (NRC-Egypt) and MOPB (Malaysia) aiming at exchange and disclose of knowledge and know-how in order to develop transgenic date palm (2005).
  
   
• International Cooperation
  1. Prof. M. Smith, Kansas State University, USA.
  2. Prof. F. Georges, Plant Biotechnology Institute, National Research Council of Canada (PBI-NRC), Canada.
  3. Prof. R. Cella, Genetics & Microbiology Department, Pavia University, Italy.
  4. Prof. T. Kuhne, Institute for Resistance Research and Pathogen Diagnostics, Aschersleben, Germany.
  5. DR. Marion Nagchtigall, BAZ, Germany
  6. Prof. S. Reddy, ICGEB, Delhi, India
  
  
   
• Administration Experience
  1. A member of National Research Center committee of Biosafety, Egypt.
  2. A member of National Research Center committee of Lab preparation.
  3. A member of the Council of Genetic Engineering Division, NRC.
  4. A member of the Administration Council of Pilot Unit for the application of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.
  5. A member of the International Relationship Office (IRO), National Research Center, Egypt.
  
   
• Conferences
  1. Fifth Annual Conference on Medicinal Plants, Cairo, Egypt, May 27-29, 1996.
  2. International Congress on Molecular Genetics, Cairo, Egypt, February 21-25, 1998.
  3. The First International Congress on Date Palms, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates, March 8-10, 1998.
  4. XV Eucarpia Congress on Disease Resistance and Breeding, Viterbo, Italy, September 19-25, 1998.
  5. Third Arab Conf. on Modern Biotechnology and Areas of Applications in the Arab World, Cairo, Egypt, December 14-17, 1998.
  6. New Aspects of Resistance Research on Cultivated plants: Virus diseases, Aschersleben, Germany, November 17-18, 1999.
  7. The Second International Symposium on Breeding Research of Medicinal and Aromatic plants, Chania, Crete, Greece, 11-16 July, 2000.
  8. The Second International Arabic Conference on Genetics and Biotechnology, El-Minia, Egypt, 23-26 October, 2000.
  9. The Second International Date Palm Conference, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates, 3-8 March, 2001.
  10. Prospectives of Scientific Researches in Arabic World, 24-27 March 2002, Sharjha, United Arab Emirates.
  11. The International Conference on Date Palm, 16-19 September 2003, King Saud University, Qaseem branch, Qaseem, Saudi Arabia.
  12. 1St International Conference of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Division, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt 15-17 March, 2004.
  13. The second Egyptian-Syrian Conference: Agriculture and Food in Arabic World, Al-Baath university, Homs, Syria 25-28 April, 2005.
  14. The 3rd Conference of Recent Technologies in Agriculture, 14-16 November, 2005, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt.
  15. Organizer of the international workshop entitled: Plant Biotechnology: A new promise for sustainable development, in collaboration with commission on science and technology for sustainable development in the south (COMSATS), NRC, Cairo, Egypt 3-7 December, 2005.
  16. Biovision Alexandria 2006. New life Scinces: Changing Lives, 26-29 April, 2006, Alexandaria, Egypt.
  
   
• Teaching experience
  1. As the organizer of local regular training courses entitled: PCR and molecular markers technology and Gene transfer and biosafty (1997-up till now), he is teaching basics of plant physiology, genetics, biotechnology, tissue culture, molecular markers and transformation, for more than six years.
  2. A member of scientific board of Genetic Engineering Research Center (GERC), Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University (visitor Junior), he is teaching in national and international postgraduate courses performed at GERC, Cairo University, since 1998.
  3. Supervising 9 M.Sc and Ph.D thesis: 2 M.Sc. (Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University), 3 M.Sc. (Faculty of Science, Cairo University), 1 M.Sc. (Faculty of Girls, Ain Shams University), 1 M.Sc. (Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University), 1 Ph.D. (Cairo University) and 1 Ph.D. (Suez Canal University).
  4. Presented oral presentations in eight out of the eleven international conferences mentioned above.
  5. Gave several keynote lectures and Seminars in the field of plant biotechnology in Zagazg University (Egypt), National Research Center (Egypt), Plant Biotechnology Institute (Canada) and Pavia University (Italy).
  6. A Co-author of Plant Biotechnology: Tissue Culture and Genetic Engineering book, published by Arabic company for publishing and distribution, Cairo, Egypt (1999), In Arabic Language.
  
   
• Books
  Plant Biotechnology: Plant Tissue Culture and Genetic Engineering (El-Bahr, M.K., Abdel Reheem, F. and Saker, M.M.), Egyptian Company for publishing and distribution, Cairo, Egypt, 1998).
   
• List of Publications
  1. M.K. El-Bahr; S.A. Ghanem; A. Abo-Shady; M.A.Hamoud and M.M.Saker (1993): Salt Tolerance in tomato tissue cultures I: Selection of NaCl tolerant line of cultured cell. Egypt. J. Hort. 20 (2): 327-336.
      
  2. M.A. Hamoud; S.A. Ghanem; A. Abo-Shady; M.K. El-Bahr and M.M Saker (1993): Salt tolerance in tomato tissue culture. II: Effect of NaCl and artificial seawater salinity on calli cultures. Egypt. J. Hort. 20 (2): 337-353.
      
  3. A. Abo-Shady; S.A. Ghanem; M. K. El- Bahr; M.E. Osman and M.M.Saker (1993): Callus induction and plant regeneration from calli of different explants of tomato. Egyt. J.Hort.20 (2): 355-371.
      
  4. M.M.Saker and H.A. El- Ashal (1995): Stimulating effect of salt stress on alkaloid production of cultured Hyoscymus cells. Fitoterapia 66:360-366.
      
  5. S.A Ghanem; M.K El-Bahr; A. Badr and M.M.Saker (1996): Protoplast isolation; culture and regeneration from Egyptian cultivars of pea and Beans. Giornale Botanico Italiano.130: 707-716.
      
  6. S.A. Ghanem; M.K. El-Bahr; M.M.Saker and A. Badr (1996): In Vitro studies on pea (Pisum sativum L.): I. Callus formation; Regeneration and Rooting. Giornale Botanico Italiano.130: 595-705.
      
  7. M.K.El-Bahr; S.A.Ghanem; M.M.Saker and A. Badr (1996): Tissue culture of Phaseolus vulgaris L. Giornale Botanico Italiano130: 717-727.
      
  8. M.M.Saker; M.R.Rady and S.A.Ghanem (1997): Elicitation of tropane alkaloid in Hyoscymus, Datura and Atropa suspension cultures by osmotic stress. Fitoterapia 68: 338-342.
      
  9. E.S. Sawires; M.M.Saker and M.K. El-Bahr (1997): Biochemical changes associated with salt stress in pea and bean tissue cultures. Egypt. J. Hort. 24, 161-173.
      
  10. M. M. Saker; M.R. Rady and M.K. El-Bahr (1997): Towards commercial production of ornamental bulbs in vitro. Egypt. J. Hort. 25:113-128.
       
  11. Rady, M.R.; Saker, M.M. and Maharek, N.T. (1997): Some metabolic changes in alfalfa callus cultures under saline conditions. Egypt. J. Bot. 37:31-42.
       
  12. M.M.Saker and T. Kuehne (1997/98): Production of transgenic kidney bean shoots by electropoation of intact cells. Biologia Plantarum 40 (4): 507-514.
       
  13. M.M.Saker (1997/98): In vitro regeneration of onion through repetitive somatic embryogenesis. Biologia Plantarum 4:499-506.
       
  14. H. A. Moursy and M. M. Saker (1998): Date palm problems and the need for biotechnology. Bull.Fac.Agric., Univ. Cairo 49:315-330.
       
  15. M.M.Saker; H.A. Moursy and S.A.Bekheet (1998): In vitro propagation of Egyptian date palm: I Morphogenic responses of immature embryos. Bull.Fac.Agric., Univ. Cairo 49:203-214.
       
  16. S.A. Bekheet and M.M.Saker (1998): In Vitro propagation of Egyptian date palm: II- Direct and indirect shoot proliferation from shoot tip explants of Phoenix dactylifera L. cv. Zaghloul. The First International Congress on Date Palms, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates, March 8-10, 1998, Pp 149-150.
       
  17. M.M.Saker and T. Kuehne (1998): RAPD marker and RAPD-based marker (SCAR) distinguish male from female papaya plants in vitro. Third Arab Conf. on Modern Biotechnology and Areas of Applications in the Arab World, Cairo, Egypt, December 14-17, 1998.
       
  18. M.M.Saker and S.A. Kawashity (1998): Tissue culture and flavanoid content of Nepeta and Plantago species endemic in Egypt. Fitoterapia 70 (4): 350-364.
       
  19. Fahmy, A.S.; Mohamed, T.M.; Mohamed, S.A. and Saker, M.M. (1998): Effect of salt stress on antioxidant enzyme activities in cell suspension cultures of cantaloupe (Cucumis melo). Egypt. J. Physiological Science 22: 315-326.
       
  20. A. Badr, S.A. Ghanem, M.M. Saker, M.K. El-Bahr, H.A. Moursy and F. Sala (1998): PCR analysis confirms inserison and maintenance of Agrobacterium -transferred herbicide resistance gene in callus cultures of kidney bean. Egypt. J. Genet. Cytol. 27:193-203.
       
  21. A. Badr, M.K. El-Bahr, S.A. Ghanem H.A. Moursy, M.M. Saker, and F. Sala (1998): DNA fingerprints of RAPD products as a measure of genetic variations of in vitro cultured pea and bean. Egypt. J. Genet. Cytol. 27:193-203.
       
  22. M.K.El-Bahr; A.S. Fahmy; S.A.Ghanem; M.M.Saker and A.Badr (1999): In vitro studies on pea (Pisum sativum L.) II: Somaic embryogenesis. Egypt.J.Agaronomy 21:99-111.
       
  23. M.M. Saker; A.E. Mohamed; A.A. Reda and M.K. El-Bahr (1999): Induction of embryogenic callus and plant regeneration in Faba Bean. Egypt.J.Agaronomy 21:87-97.
       
  24. M.M.Saker and H.A. Moursy (1999): Molecular characterization of Egyptian date palm: II- RAPD Fingerprints. Arab J. Biotechnology 2: 71-78.
       
  25. A.A.El-Kazzaz, M.M.Saker and M.H.Hussein (1999): In vitro micropropagation and molecular genetic analysis of cactus (Echinocactus grausonii) variants using SDS-PAGE and RAPD fingerprinting. Arab J. Biotechnology 2: 53-62.
       
  26. M.M.Saker; S.A. Bekheet; H.S.Taha and A.A. Reda (1999): In vitro propagation of papaya (Carica papaya L.). Arab J. Biotechnology 2: 235-244.
       
  27. M.M.Saker and M.R.Rady (1999):Optimization of factors governing Agrobacterium -mediated transformation of the Egyptian tomato cultivar (Edkawy). Arab J. Biotechnology 2: 71-78.
       
  28. Abdalla, S.M.; Saker, M.M.; Yousef, S.S. and Hussein, B.A. (1999): Genetic fingerprinting of some cultivars and regenerants of clover (Trifolium alexandrinum) detected by RAPD. The first conference on food technology and biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, 27-29 November 1999.
       
  29. M.M.Saker and M.K. El-Bahr (2000): Preservation of Egyptian wild plants using tissue culture techniques: I- In vitro propagation of Urginea martima. Arabic J. Biotechnology 3: 55-60.
       
  30. M.M. Saker; S.A. Bekheet; H.S.Taha; A.S. Fahmy and H.A. Moursy (2000): Detection of somaclonal variations in tissue culture-derived date palm plants using isozyme analysis and RAPD fingerprints. Biologia Plantarum 43: 347-351.
       
  31. H.A.Hussein; M.M.Saker and M.H. Hussein (2000): DNA fingerprints of faba beans tolerant to broomrape (Orbanche crenata, Forsk). Arab J. Biotechnology 3(2):189-198.
       
  32. Rady, M.R. and Saker, M.M. (2000): Micropropagation of Lavandula officinalis L. through shoot tip culture of mature plants. Egypt. J. Hort. 27:305-314.
       
  33. M.M. Saker, S. M. Shanab and M.R. Khater (2000): In vitro studies on Ambrosia maritima : 1- Morphogenic responses and algal toxins elicitation. Arab J. Biotechnology 3(2): 217-224.
       
  34. M.M. Saker, S. M. Shanab, M.Dessouky and M.R. Khater (2000): In vitro studies on Ambrosia maritima : II- Fungal elicitor enhances sesquiterpene lactones accumulation. Arab J. Biotechnology 3(2): 225-232.
       
  35. Nachtigall, M., Saker, M.M., Kopahnke, D. and Walther, U. (2000): Development of molecular markers in barley against fungal resistance. Bericht uber die 51. Arbeitstagung 2000 der Vereinigung Osterreichischer Pflanzenzuchter.
       
  36. S.A. Bekheet, M.M.Saker and H.S.Taha (2001): In vitro long- term storage of date palm. Biologia Plantarum 45(1):121-124.
       
  37. S.A. Bekheet, H.S.Taha and M.M.Saker (2001): Factors affecting in vitro multiplication of date palm. Biologia Plantarum 44(3):431-433.
       
  38. S.A. Bekheet, M.M. Saker, H.S.Taha and H.A. Moursy (2001): Plant regeneration via somatic embryogenesis in date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.). Arab J. Biotechnology 4 (1):111-118.
       
  39. S.A. Bekheet, H.S.Taha, M.M.Saker and H.A. Moursy (2002): Asysnthetic seed system of date palm through somatic embryogenesis encapsulation. Annals Agric. Sci., Ain Shams Univ., Cairo 47 (1): 325-337.
       
  40. Salma, H. and Saker, M.M. (2002): DNA fingerprints of three different red palm weevil forms collected from infested Egyptian date palm orchards. Archiv.Phytopath.Pflanz.35: 1-8.
       
  41. Adawy, S.S., Hussein, E., El-Khishin, D., Saker, M.M and El-Itriby H. (2002): Genetic variability studies and molecular fingerprinting of some Egyptian date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars. II-RAPD and ISSR profiling. Arab J. Biotechnology 5:225-236.
       
  42. Saker, M.M., Kawshity, S., El-Bahr, M.K. and Fahmy, A. (2002): Flavonoid content and isozyme analysis of tissue culture-derived date palm clones. Arab J. Biotechnology 5:207-216.
       
  43. Saker, M.M. (2003): Production of biosafe transgenic potato plants with coat protein gene of potato virus Y. Arab J. Biotechnology 6 (1): 125-138.
       
  44. Saker, M.M and Moursy, H.A. (2003): Transgenic date palm: A new era in date palm biotechnology. Proceeding of the international conference on date palm, 16-19 September, King Saud University, Qaseem, Saudi Arabia.
       
  45. Shanab, S., Saker, M.M. and Abdel-Rahman, M. (2003): Crude extract of some fresh water cyanobacteria have auxin like activity on potato tissue culture. Arab J. Biotechnology 6 (2): 297-312.
       
  46. Adawy, S., Ebtissam, H.A., Saker, M.M. and El-Itriby, H. (2004a). Intra-and Inter-Varietal variations of upper Egypt date palm cultivars (Phoenix dactylifera L.) as revealed by RAPD and ISSR markers. Proceed Int. Conf. Genet. Eng. & Appl. (April 8-11), Sharm El-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt pp:165-179.
       
  47. Adawy, S., Saker, M.M., Mohamed, A.M. and El-Itriby, H. (2004b). Genetic relationship of upper Egypt date palm cultivars (Phoenix dactylifera L.) as revealed by AFLP markers. Proceed Int. Conf. Genet. Eng. & Appl. (April 8-11), Sharm El-Sheikh, South Sinai, Egypt pp:181-195.
       
  48. M.K.El Bahr, Z.A. Ali and Saker, M.M. (2004): A comparative anatomical study of date palm vitro plants. Arab J. Biotechnology 7(2): 219-228.
       
  49. Saker, M.M, Nagchtigall, M. and Kuehne, T. (2005): A comparative assessment of DNA fingerprinting by RAPD, SSR and AFLP in genetic analysis of some barley genotypes. Egypt. J. Genetics and Cytology 34: 81-97.
       
  50. Saker, M.M. (2005): Biological and molecular characterization of some Egyptian barley genotypes resistant to net blotch disease. Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters 10: 265-280.
       
  51. Saker, M.M. (2005): Mapping RAPD and SSR markers linked to net blotch resistance gene in barley. Arab J. Biotechnology 8 (2): 369 - 378.
  52. Hussein, M.H., Saker, M.M., Moghaieb, R.E. and Hussein, H.A. (2005): Molecular characterization of salt tolerance in the genomes of some Egyptian and Saudi Arabian barley genotypes. Arab J. Biotechnology 8 (2): 241 - 252.
       
  53. Saker, M.M., Youssef, S.S., Abdullah, N. A., Bashandy, H.S. and El Sharkawy, A. (2005): Genetic analysis of some Egyptian rice genotypes using RAPD, SSR, ALFP. African J. Biotechnology 4(9) 882-890.
       
  54. Haggag, W.M., Mohamed, H.A. and Saker, M.M. (2005): Biocontrol activity and molecular characterization of colchicines-induced autoploidy yeast strains; Tilletiopsis pallescens on powdery mildew and Rhodotorula glutinis on grey mould in greenhouse sweet pepper. Egypt. J. Biotechnology, 19:183-208.
       
  55. Saker, M.M., Moghaieb, R.E., El Awady, M.M., Youssef, S.S. and El Sharkawy, A. (2005): Molecular evaluation of vicine and convicine of some Egyptian faba bean genotypes as related to favism. 3rd Conference on Recent Technologies in Agriculture, 14-16 November, 2005, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt.
       
  56. Youssef, S.S., Moghaieb, R.E, Saker, M.M., El Awady, M.M. and El Sharkawy, A. (2005): Efficient protocol for plant regeneration and transformation from mature embryos of Vicia faba. 3rd Conference on Recent Technologies in Agriculture, 14-16 November, 2005, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt.
       
  57. Saker, M.M., S. S. Adawy, A. A. Mohamed and H. A. El-Itriby (2006): Monitoring of cultivar identity in tissue culture-derived date palms using RAPD and AFLP analysis. Biologia Plantarum 50 (2): 198-204.
       
  58. Gaafar, R. and Saker, M.M. (2006): Monitoring of cultivar identity and genetic stability in strawberry varieties grown in Egypt. World J. Agricultural Sciences 1 (2):00-00.