Dedicated, creative, supportive

"I knew Wael since 2015, since then we have been involved in much partnership research projects. Our collaboration varied between basic neuroscience and clinical neurology research involving neurodegenerative disorders. The passion of Wael was not restricted to the field of research. He organized different international events in Egypt, which helped to introduce eminent experts in the field to young Egyptian as well as African neuroscientists. More important, is the outreach program that was launched by Wael in collaboration with IBRO and ISN, where different colleagues explored distant areas in Egypt trying to examine and manage patients with neurodegenerative disorders with poor access to medical services. As can be seen, Wael will continue to play a unique role in spreading the neuroscience knowledge to include more areas in Egypt as well as in African diaspora. This is in turn will be reflected by establishing the first Pan African Network (PAN) that includes many African countries. What is unique about PAN is the ability to gather researchers and clinicians from different African countries trying to unravel the pathogenesis of common brain disorders in Africa. To the best of my knowledge this is the first initiative trying to cross borders between different African countries and different disciplines as the PAN includes not only neurologists but also basic neuroscientists and geneticists. Further, in 2019, he launched AfrAbia Society that embraces neuroscientists from Arab and African countries. It is the first of its kind that facilitates the cross talk between Arabs and African neuroscientists (https://waelmohamed3.wixsite.com/afrabiasociety). Together, we designed a proposal centered on Comprehensive study of the disorders of neural networks in the central nervous system and the biological systems that regulate their restoration. We will use unilateral cerebral cortical contusions, as well as in spinal cord injury and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). We will use these disease models to analyze spatiotemporal changes in gene expression and dynamics of immune and vascular cell groups. In addition, we will determine how the cells in the immune system and vascular system exert control on disorders in neural networks and their recovery and will proceed through an analysis of the mechanisms involved in the phenomena therein. By using the resulting findings and by understanding the mechanisms behind the recovery of neural networks through activation of each cell group, we will elucidate the principles behind living organisms’ reactions during the acute phase of a disorder and during the recovery phase. Wael has a strong background for this type of work, having done fair amount of work in psychopharmacology, so he will fit well into my team in my laboratory, and we are glad to have his expertise. Also, we are coauthoring a book for Springer on: Micronutrients and the brain (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-6467-0 ) along with co-editing together a special issue for Frontier on genes and aging ( https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/19097/genes-and-aging-from-bench-side-to-bed-side). More details on his academic merits are on his web site https://waelmohamed3.wixsite.com/wael-mohamed-lab"

Nominated by Toshihide Yamashita, Deaprtment of Molecular Neuroscience, The University of Osaka, japan