Dr Hadil El-Sammak
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ)
Dr Hadil El-Sammak
Dr Hadil El-Sammak
About
El-Sammak is a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of molecular neurobiology at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ). She holds a PhD in developmental genetics from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research.
Current research
El-Sammak is currently working on neural stem cells in the adult brain. The adult brain contains two regions where stem cells reside and can give rise to new neurons under specific conditions. Using several newly developed single cell approaches, she is trying to understand what regulates neural stem cell quiescence and activation to promote neurogenesis after ischemic injury in attempts to repair the adult brain.
Future research vision
Ischemic diseases are a leading cause of death worldwide. Unfortunately, several vital mammalian organs such as the heart and the brain, are not able to regenerate after injury. With lack of effective therapeutic approaches to date, there is an urgent need to understand and boost the endogenous regenerative capacity of such post-mitotic organs. During her PhD, El-Sammak worked on cardiac regeneration using the highly regenerative zebrafish as a model organism. With continuously growing interest in regenerative biology, her postdoctoral work focuses on understanding and promoting regeneration in the adult mammalian brain following ischemic injury. The ultimate goal would be to use intrinsic cellular machinery and pathways to lure neural stem cells to divide and proliferate to replace the lost tissue after ischemia and eventually restore the function of the brain.
Key publications

Hu, B et al. Origin and function of activated fibroblast states during zebrafish heart regeneration. Nature Genetics, 2022.

El-Sammak, H et al. A Vegfc-Emilin2a-Cxcl8a signaling axis required for zebrafish cardiac regeneration. Circulation Research, 2022.

Fukuda, R et al. Stimulation of glycolysis promotes cardiomyocyte proliferation after injury in adult zebrafish. EMBO Reports, 2020.  

Marín-Juez, R et al. Coronary Revascularization During Heart Regeneration Is Regulated by Epicardial and Endocardial Cues and Forms a Scaffold for Cardiomyocyte Repopulation. Developmental Cell, 2019.

Collins, MM et al. Early Sarcomere and Metabolic Defects in a Zebrafish pitx2c Cardiac Arrhythmia Model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.

Key awards

PhD fellowship, Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF).

Stipend, International Max Planck Research School.

Scholarship, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD).

Excellence Award, German University in Cairo.

The Scientific Arab Forum Limited (trading as saf) is a company limited by Guarantee.