Asaad Ataa

My primary research interests include:
Molecular Microbiology, Viral Genomics, Genome Editing (e.g., CRISPR), Human Genetics, Pharmacogenomics, Genetic Epidemiology, Bioinformatics, Genetic Neuroscience, Computational Biology, Virus-Host Interactions, and Microbial Genomics.

PhD Researcher in Microbial Data Science, UFZ, Germany, 10/2023, present, Computational Biology, Genomics, Viromics, Computational tools (Python, R, and Machine learning), Research Assistant, Jordan University of Science and Technology, 08/2019, 02/2022, DNA, RNA Extraction from Blood, Viruses, PCR, RFLP, Electrophoresis, Writing researches and Proposal, Research Assistant, Thamar University, Yemen, 04/2010, 04/2017, DNA, RNA Extraction from Plant genomic, Animal tissues, and Bacteria samples, PCR, Electrophoresis, Isolation and diagnosis of different types of bacteria and fungi, Lecturer, Modern University for Science and Technology, Dentistry Department, 09/2021, Current, Oral Microbiology, Research Methodology, Microbiology, Teaching Assistant, Thamar University, Biochemistry Department, 09/2009, 07/2018, Biochemistry of nutrition, Immuno Chemistry, Immunology, Applied Biochemistry, Molecular Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Lecturer, Al-Saeeda University, 04/2012, 08/2013, Microbiology Water & Food, Pharmaceutics Biotechnology, Laboratory Technician, Cure Medical Center (CMC), Sanaa, Yemen, 01/2017, 08/2017, Serology analysis, Biochemistry tests, Diagnostic tests of bacteria, Food and Biotechnology Engineer, The Agriculture and Irrigation Office of Dhamar, Yemen, 01/2012, 12/2013, Investigations and analysis of food and microbiological diagnostic laboratories for food contamination

• Gender: Male
• Nationality: Yemeni
• Marital status: Married

• Genomic Insights into Blood Pressure Regulation, Alghamdi MA, Al-Eitan L, Ibdah R, Bani Khalid I, Darabseh S, Alasmar M, Ataa A., Medicina (Kaunas), 01/17/25, 10.3390/medicina61010156
• Pharmacogenetic Variations in Arab Populations, Laith Naser AL Eitan, Iliya Yacoub Khair, Saif Zuhair Alahmad, Doaa Rababaʼh, Asaad Ataa, Hana Abu Kharmah, Lamice Shurafa, Current Reviews in Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology, 2025, 10.2174/0127724328335492241206075509
• Impact of the coronavirus pandemic on mental prosperity of medical care laborers, Jinghong, Yao PhD, et al., 2022, 10.1097/MD.0000000000029485
• Use of CRISPR to Enhance and Combat Human Viral Infections, Ataa, Asaad Mohammed, Ataa, Amru Masour, J Emerg Dis Virol, 2020, 10.16966/2473-1846.151
• Effect of YEMECIN antibiotic on bacteria, Ataa, Asaad Mohammed A., The Journal of Microbiology, 2019
• Study of the Effects of YEMECIN Antibiotic on Bacteria Causing Food Corruption, Ataa, Asaad Mohammed A., BAOJ Microbio, 2018
• Production Enzyme Invertase by Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Ataa, Asaad Mohammed A., BAOJ Microbio, 2017
• Use of Enzyme Lysozyme & anti-bacterial Allicin for food preservation, Ataa, Asaad Mohammed A., World Journal of Biology and Biotechnology, 2016

• October 2024; 20th Herbstseminar of Bioinformatics, Doubice, Czech Republic, Speaker (How
  phages influence the functional potential of human gut microbiomes).
• September 2021; Science Meets Journalism: Media and Science in Turbulent Times, 2nd international conference, by Goethe Institute and DAAD in Egypt, online.
  ▪ November 2019; Orientation Seminar on Presentation Skills, Written Communication, Academic
  Writing, Proposal Writing, and Job Interview, the DAAD Orientation Seminar for Third Country Scholarship Holders 2019. Jordan.
  ▪ November 2017; Training program (Ethics in Life Sciences Research and Publication) Bibliotheca
  Alexandrina and TWAS Arab Regional Office. Egypt.
  

• DAAD PhD Scholarship in Germany (2023–present).
• Awarded a CSC Chinese Government Scholarship for a PhD in Genetics (September 2021)—later declined.
• Selected as one of the top 14 science journalists out of 200 in the Middle East by the Goethe Institute (Cairo) for the article "After antibiotics, does bacterial infection become the most deadly in humans? 2021.
• First place award for Best Animation for raising awareness about judicious use of antibiotics in Jordan – awarded by the Regional Center of Infectious Diseases and AMR, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, and FAO, 2020.
• DAAD Scholarship for Master’s studies in Human Genetics & Pharmacogenomics at Jordan University of Science and Technology – awarded under the Third Country Program for Yemeni and Palestinian Students, 2018-2021.
• Award for Best Young Arab Scientist from the Society of Inventors and Scientists – Egypt, 2016.
• Best Environmental Invention Award among 238 participants at the International Invention Fair – Egypt, 2016.
• Honored as "Messenger of Ideal Prize" in the field of science in nation-building – presented by Al-Azhar University, Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, and Arab Youth Council for Integrated Development, 2014.
• United Nations Volunteer Award for youth community service – Sana’a, Yemen, 2014.
• First Place in the Arab Youth Excellence Award in Scientific Research – selected among 250 participants from across the Arab world, 2013.
• Certificate of Excellence in Scientific Research from the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Dhamar University – Yemen, 2010.

(Oct 2023 – Present); PhD Researcher, Department of Computational Biology and Chemistry, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) . Focus: Viral Genomics, Viromics, and Microbiome Functional Analysis

(2019-2022); Research Assistant, Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) – Irbid, Jordan. Worked on gene expression studies and pharmacogenomics research projects.

(2013 – 2018); Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Thamar University—Dhamar, Yemen. Courses: Biochemistry, Molecular Biology.

 Bioinformatics, 7 course series (Genome Sequencing; Comparing Genes, Proteins, and Genomes; Molecular Evolution; Genomic Data Science and Clustering; Finding Mutations in DNA and Proteins; Bioinformatics Capstone: Big Data in Biology), University of California San Diego

§ UFZ Summer School in Trends in Multi-Omics Data Analysis, University of Leipzig & UFZ | July 2025

§ Theoretical and practical training on multi-omics data analysis, including Unix/Bash, Git, Python, R, omics technologies, Viromics, Phylogenetics, Metagenomics, SQL for omics, genome annotation, genome reconstruction, metatranscriptomics, Multi-omics data integration, machine learning, Protein language models, and experimental design.

§ Practical activities: bioinformatics pipelines, genome annotation, amplicon sequencing, data management, and computational analysis.

§ UFZ Summer School in Trends in Multi-Omics Data Analysis, University of Leipzig & UFZ | July 2024

§ Theoretical and practical training on multi-omics data analysis, including Unix/Bash, Git, Python, R, omics technologies, proteomics (with laboratory visit), viromics, phylogenetics, metagenomics, SQL for omics, genome annotation, genome reconstruction, metatranscriptomics, multi-omics data integration, machine learning, and experimental design.

§ Practical activities: bioinformatics pipelines, genome annotation, amplicon sequencing, data management, and computational analysis.

§ Bioinformatics, 7-course series | April to July 2024 (Genome Sequencing; Comparing Genes, Proteins, and Genomes; Molecular Evolution; Genomic Data Science and Clustering; Finding Mutations in DNA and Proteins; Bioinformatics Capstone: Big Data in Biology), University of California San Diego.

§ Google IT Automation with Python 6 course series  | April to May 2024 (Crash course on python; Using python to interact with the operation system; Introduction to Git and GitHub; Troubleshooting and debugging technique; Configuration management and the cloud; Automating real-world tasks with python), Google and Coursera course.

Bash and Python courses, 5-course series | January to March 2024 . Python for Genomic Data Science, The Johns Hopkins University. Introduction to Version Control with Git,Github, Gitlab, UFZ. Introduction to Genomic Technologies, The Johns Hopkins University.

Crash course in (The Bash Shell and Basic Scripting in Linux, Unix System Basic; Introduction to Bash Shell Scripting) Coursera Project Coursera. Introduction to the Linux Command Line and the UFZ High Performance Compute Cluster EVE, UFZ.

§ Software Carpentry Workshop | November 2023 (Shell, Git, Programming with R), Helmholtz Information & Data Science Academy (HIDA) Germany.

UFZ Training Courses | November to December 2023;  Crash Course in Metabolic Modeling - Advanced topics; COBRA and Matlab, Good Scientific Practice, HIGRADE Core Curriculum & Career. Crash Course in Metabolic Modeling (Basics): Genome Scale-Metabolic Reconstructions, Helmholtz center for environmental research (UFZ), Germany

§ Workshop in Bioinformatics | January 2022; on Data Science with Python, R, and Machine Learning, DE Life, India