Mohamad WAHIDI , PhD
Molecular biologist · Grenoble, France
Molecular biologist based in Grenoble, France with a PhD in molecular and cell biology as well as a background in developmental biology and synthetic biology. I have expertise in both wet lab and dry lab (bioinformatics).
I am an amateur triathlete with Grenoble's GUC Triathlon aiming for age-group championships for the 2027 race season as well as a beginner in cross-cuntry skiing competition with a valid FIS racing license from the lebanese ski federation.
Apart from my science and athletics, I enjoy learning about human spaceflight and astronomy, particularly also astrobiology, and I was the first lebanese to ever be selected as an analogue astronaut for a the CHILL-ICE 1 mission (organised by ICEE.Space; https://icee.space/chill-ice-i/) in basaltic lava fields of Stefánshellir, Iceland back in 2021.
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About
I obtained my PhD in molecular and cell biology from Grenoble Alpes University (Grenoble, France) and I hold two MSc degrees in Developmental and molecular evolutionary biology from Sorbonne University (Paris, France) and Synthetic biology from Paris-Saclay University. I did my bachelor's degree at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany) with emphasis on cancer biology and minors in chemistry and physics.
For my PhD I focused on elucidating molecular regulators involved in photoprotection and the CO2 concentrating mechanism in a green photosynthetic microorganism (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) and started a project to unravel structural insights into proterties on an improtant master regulator of these mechanisms. The project allowed me to not only expand ony m expertise im molecular biology, but also involved a significant bioinformatics part as a minor strucutral protein biology technical part.
I have diverse scientific interests, which can be noticed in the number of internships I have done internationally in different sub-fields of biology ranging from cancer bilogy, stem cell & developmental biology, synthetic biology, microbiology & plant biology.
Research experience
Investigated genome-wide regulatory mechanisms underlying light and CO₂ signal integration in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. I unraveled candidates for transcriptional regulators of photoprotection and the CO₂ concentrating mechanism through building a gene-regulatory network based on RNA-sequenced samples from Chlamydomonas cells in different lab-controlled environmental conditions.
The project involved diverse techniques in molecular biology, algal cellular biology, bioninformatics for RNA-sequencing analysis using R, gene-editing via CRISPR-cas9, biochemistry and structural protein biology-related approaches.
Supervised by Dr. Dimitris Petroutsos (Uppsala University) and Dr. Romain Blanc-Mathieu).
Worked on synthetically refactoring the biosynthetic gene cluster responsible for the production of the antibiotic pyrollamide congocidine in Actinobacteria in the lab of Dr. Sylvie Lautru.
I investigated the function of 'homeobox-genes' in the development of the epithelium of the primitive chordate Oikopleura dioica in the lab of Dr. Daniel Chourrout.
Contributed briefly to the research of cellular mechanisms controlling later-root development in Arabidopsis thaliana in the lab of Dr. Alexis Maizel.
I contirbuted to an ongoing project investigating epigenetic role of the histone H3.3 lysine 9 residue on neuronal differentiation by genetically engineering mouse embryonic stem cells using CRISPR-cas9 technology in the lab of Dr. Kyung-Min Noh.
I helped conducting experiments related to the regulation of meiotic-recombination in yeast and got my first microbiology and molecular biology hands-on experience in the lab of Dr. Gerben Vader.
I investigated expression of genes in the protoporphyrin IX/heme biosynthetic pathway in A431 and SCC13 cancer cell lines and healthy primary keratinocytes.
Investigated ALA–PPIX-mediated photodynamic therapy in healthy primary keratinocytes and skin cancer cell lines.
Investigated control of biopharmaceutical production by mammalian cell factories using small-molecule transcription-factor inhibitors CAPE and 10074-G5.
Education
Education
Publications
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Photoprotection Under the Lens: Signal Integration and Transcriptional Regulation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (first author; reviewer revisions addressed, resubmission planned).
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Transcriptional wide gene-regulation of transcriptional factors involved in light and CO₂ signal integration in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (first author; in progress).
Extracurriculars, Scholarships, & Awards
I'm also interested in analog space missions, exploration, endurance sports, and science communication.
Contact
I'm happy to connect about research, collaboration, and shared scientific interests.
Email: wahidim6@gmail.com, Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohamad-wahidi-phd-a6318314a/.