Sherif El-Khamisy
Professor (FRSC FRSB, Chair of Molecular Medicine, Director of Research and Innovation, Wellcome Trust Investigator) - Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
Profile
Professor Sherif El-Khamisy started off in community and clinical pharmacy in Egypt but the repetitive and unchallenging nature of the work left him seeking more. He completed a business administration diploma at the same time as a masters in pharmaceutical sciences before securing a PhD position in Sussex, attracted by better research funding and facilities to be found abroad. This was self-funded at first, but he soon acquired a scholarship with the help of an encouraging supervisor.
After a failed attempt at setting up a research group back in Egypt, he went to the US to improve his research profile and make himself more competitive for fellowship positions. He brought back the training on mouse models of human disorders he had acquired there to the Genome Centre at Sussex, where the director was supportive and made sure he was separated from his PhD supervisor.
In 2012, he successfully established a Genome Centre in Egypt in partnership with a Nobel laureate to give something back to his country and, for himself, he gained huge experience in managing infrastructure and people. After his fellowship, he was drawn to the welcoming and nurturing research environment at Sheffield, where he took up his current role in 2013.
“The key step in academia is to choose a place where the environment is supportive, where you can actually talk to people and exchange ideas.”
Career timeline
1997
Pharm BSc from Pharmacy College, Cairo University.
1997-2002
Assistant Lecturer at Ain Shams Pharmacy College.
2000
MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Ain Shams Pharmacy College.
2002
Diploma in Business Administration from American University in Cairo.
Awarded Overseas Research Scholarship.
2003
Awarded Lorne Duncan Award
First author paper
El-Khamisy, S.F., Masutani, M., Suzuki, H. and Caldecott, K.W. (2003) A requirement for PARP-1 for the assembly or stability of XRCC1 nuclear foci at sites of oxidative DNA damage. Nucleic Acids Res, 31(19), 5526-5533.
2004
Awarded SIR Richard Stapley Award.
Second author paper
Loizou, J.I., El-Khamisy, S.F., Zlatanou, A., Moore, D.J., Chan, D.W., Qin, J., Sarno, S., Meggio, F., Pinna, L.A. and Caldecott, K.W. (2004) The protein kinase CK2 facilitates repair of chromosomal DNA single-strand breaks. Cell, 117(1), 17-28.Awarded Young Investigator Biochemical Society Award.
2005
PhD in Biochemistry from University of Sussex.
First author paper
El-Khamisy, S.F., Saifi, G.M., Weinfeld, M., Johansson, F., Helleday, T., Lupski, J.R. and Caldecott, K.W. (2005) Defective DNA single-strand break repair in spinocerebellar ataxia with axonal neuropathy-1. Nature, 434(7029), 108-113.
2006
Postdoctoral Fellow at St Jude Hospital, USA.
Other author paper
Ahel, I., Rass, U., El-Khamisy, S.F., Katyal, S., Clements, P.M., McKinnon, P.J., Caldecott, K.W. and West, S.C. (2006) The neurodegenerative disease protein aprataxin resolves abortive DNA ligation intermediates. Nature, 443(7112), 713-716.MRC Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Sussex.
2007
Second author paper
Katyal, S., el-Khamisy, S.F., Russell, H.R., Li, Y., Ju, L., Caldecott, K.W. and McKinnon, P.J. (2007) TDP1 facilitates chromosomal single-strand break repair in neurons and is neuroprotective in vivo. EMBO J, 26(22), 4720-4731.
2008
Wellcome Trust Career Dev. Fellow at University of Sussex.
2009
Ataxia UK Project Grant £77,520.
Second author paper
Cortes Ledesma F., El Khamisy, S.F., Zuma, M.C., Osborn, K. and Caldecott, K.W. (2009) A human 5′-tyrosyl DNA phosphodiesterase that repairs topoisomerase-mediated DNA damage. Nature, 461(7264), 674-678.
2010
Wellcome Trust Project Grant £232,000.
2011
MSc and PhD supervisor.
First author paper
El-Khamisy, S.F. (2011) To live or to die: a matter of processing damaged DNA termini in neurons. EMBO Mol Med, 3(2), 78-88.Invited Lecturer at the Institute for Ageing and Health.
Gordon Conference on Genetic toxicology, Italy.
2012
Founder and Director of the Genome Center at Zewail City of Science, Egypt.
Grant for CRUK Drug Discovery £260,000.
Last author paper
Hudson, J.J.R., Chiang, S-C., Wells, O.S., Rookyard, C. and El-Khamisy, S.F. (2012) SUMO modification of the neuroprotective protein TDP1 facilitates chromosomal single-strand break repair. Nat Commun, 3, 733.The Genome stability in neuroscience conference, Norway.
2013
Reader of Genome Stability at the University of Sheffield.
Chair at the Genome Stability Network Meeting, UK.
Co-organiser and speaker at the Ataxia Telangiectasia Conference, UK.
Last author paper
Alagoz, M., Wells, O.S. and El-Khamisy, S.F. (2014) TDP1 deficiency sensitizes human cells to base damage via distinct topoisomerase I and PARP mechanisms with potential applications for cancer therapy. Nucleic Acids Research, 42(5), 3089-3103.Level 2 (Genetics 2) and Level 3 (Genome Stability and Genetic Change) module teaching.
2014
Plenary lecture at the opening ceremony of BIOCHEM 2014, Egypt.
The fourth World Congress on Cancer Science and Therapy, USA.
Lister Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield
2015
Last author paper
Ashour, M.E., Atteya, R. and El-Khamisy, S.F. (2015) Topoisomerase-mediated chromosomal break repair: an emerging player in many games. Nature Reviews Cancer, 15(3), 137-151.Invited Lecture at the Medical School research series, UK.
Judge of the Medical School Annual Research Conference, the University of Sheffield.
Wellcome Trust Annual Research Symposia, UK.
Wellcome Trust Investigator at the University of Sheffield (to 2020).
Director of Research and Innovation at University of Sheffield.
Chair of Molecular Medicine at the University of Sheffield.
2015-2016
EU/British Council Award £300,000.
2016
Last author paper
Meisenberg, C., Ashour, M.E., El-Shafie, L., Liao, C., Hodgson, A., Pilborough, A., Khurram, S.A., Downs, J.A., Ward, S.E. and El-Khamisy, S.F. (2016) Epigenetic changes in histone acetylation underpin resistance to the topoisomerase I inhibitor irinotecan.Press release
New discovery in understanding chemotherapy resistance could prevent cancer cells fighting back.
2017
Other author paper
Walker, C., Herranz-Martin, S., Karyka, E. et al. (19 more authors) (2017) C9orf72 Expansion Disrupts ATM-mediated Chromosomal Break Repair. Nature Neuroscience. ISSN 1097-6256.Press release
New discovery in motor neurone disease and dementia could pave the way to novel treatments.
2018
Review
Elserafy, M. and El-Khamisy, S.F. (2018) Choose your yeast strain carefully: the RAD5 gene matters. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 19(6), 343-344.Press release
Recipe for the perfect balance of breaks and repairs in our genome could help fight cancer and brain ageing.Last author paper
Liao, C., Beveridge, R., Hudson, J.J.R., Parker, J.D., Chiang, S-C., Ray, S., Ashour, M.E., Sudbery, I., Dickman, M.J. and El-Khamisy, S.F. (2018) UCHL3 Regulates Topoisomerase-Induced Chromosomal Break Repair by Controlling TDP1 Proteostasis. Cell Reports, 23(11), 3352-3365.