Amal Bajaffer

Postdoctoral Fellows

Post-doctoral fellow

Current

Location:

Building 2, Level 2, Desert Side , 2281-WS18

Social Profile:

Biography

My research focuses on using environmental DNA (eDNA) to explore biodiversity and changes in community composition associated with marine ecosystems. 


Formerly conducted research on the evolution of memory systems and Lactate-Mediated Neural Plasticity (LMNP) systems using bioinformatics approaches to identify orthologs, gene gain/loss patterns, and gene ontology, worked on metagenomics of gut microbiome and analyzed big data to study genomic diversity and antimicrobial resistance characterization of bacterial genomes.

 

Research Interests

Marine Ecology, Marine Conservation, Biodiversity, Environment, Environmental Sustainability, Genomics, Metagenomics, Molecular Biology, Molecular Evolution,  Microbiology, Bioinformatics.

 

Selected Publications

  1. Prediction of Antimicrobial Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations for Neisseria gonorrhoeae using Machine Learning Models. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences. Yasir, M., Karim, A., Malik, S., Bajaffer, A., & Azhar, E. Saudi J Biol Sci 29, (2022) doi.org/10.1016/j.sjbs.2022.02.047

  2. Evolution of memory system‐related genes. Bajaffer, A., Mineta, K., & Gojobori, T. FEBS Open Bio (2021) doi:10.1002/2211-5463.13224.

Education

Ph.D. Student, Bioscience, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, 2014 – 2019.

M.Sc., Biology, University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), San Antonio, US, 2012 - 2014. 

B.Sc., Microbiology, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2004 - 2008.


Professional Profile

2022 - Present: Postdoctoral fellow, KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

2020 - 2022: Postdoctoral fellow, KAU, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Awards

Project Management Professional (PMP) Certified.

KAUST Affiliations

Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)