Nashaat Gerges, PhD, BPharm

Professor, Chair of the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences

Locations

果冻影院 Pharmacy School
HRC H2600

Contact Information

Education

PhD, Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, TX
BPharm, University of Assiut, Assiut, Egypt
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, University of Michigan
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Houston

Certificates

Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Committee (FPGEC) Certification, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP)

Biography

Nashaat Gerges, PhD, BPharm, joined the 果冻影院 Pharmacy School in January 2017. He began working with the 果冻影院 in 2006 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, and continues to hold a secondary appointment there as an Associate Professor. Dr. Gerges also served as the Associate Director of the Neuroscience Research Center at its inception in 2010. Prior to earning a PhD degree in Pharmacology from University of Houston in 2002, Dr. Gerges earned his Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science in 1995. Dr. Gerges has extensive research experience in cellular and molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. He has been awarded more than 10 grants, 9 of which he served as the Principle Investigator, from agencies like the National Institute of Health, Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin, Alzheimer's Association, BrightFocus Foundation and the American Thyroid Association. He has published more than 30 peer-reviewed publications; many of which are in highly-cited journals (e.g. Nature Communications, EMBO Journal, Journal of Neuroscience, Nature Neuroscience and Journal of Biological Chemistry). He also has more than 10 years of experience teaching medical and graduate students. Dr. Gerges has received many honors and awards including the Alzheimer’s Association Investigator of the year Award in 2012 and Rho Chi Honor Society membership.

Research Interests

Cellular and molecular mechanisms of learning and memory

(Brown JC, Petersen A, Zhong L, Himelright ML, Murphy JA, Walikonis RS, Gerges NZ.) Nat Commun. 2016 Mar 24;7:11080 PMID: 27009485 PMCID: PMC4820844 03/25/2016
(Knafo S, Sánchez-Puelles C, Palomer E, Delgado I, Draffin JE, Mingo J, Wahle T, Kaleka K, Mou L, Pereda-Perez I, Klosi E, Faber EB, Chapman HM, Lozano-Montes L, Ortega-Molina A, Ordóñez-Gutiérrez L, Wandosell F, Viña J, Dotti CG, Hall RA, Pulido R, Gerges NZ, Chan AM, Spaller MR, Serrano M, Venero C, Esteban JA.) Nat Neurosci. 2016 Mar;19(3):443-53 PMID: 26780512 01/19/2016
(Kaleka KS, Gerges NZ.) Exp Neurol. 2016 Mar;277:115-123 PMID: 26721336 01/02/2016
(Santarriaga S, Petersen A, Ndukwe K, Brandt A, Gerges N, Bruns Scaglione J, Scaglione KM.) J Biol Chem. 2015 Oct 16;290(42):25571-8 PMID: 26330554 PMCID: PMC4646202 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84945218850 09/04/2015
(Petersen A, Gerges NZ.) Sci Rep. 2015 Jun 18;5:11135 PMID: 26084473 PMCID: PMC4471661 06/19/2015
(Zhong L, Brown J, Kramer A, Kaleka K, Petersen A, Krueger JN, Florence M, Muelbl MJ, Battle M, Murphy GG, Olsen CM, Gerges NZ.) J Neurosci. 2015 May 13;35(19):7503-8 PMID: 25972176 PMCID: PMC4429154 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84929353508 05/15/2015
(Zhong L, Brown JC, Wells C, Gerges NZ.) J Vis Exp. 2013 Apr 03(74) PMID: 23609099 PMCID: PMC3643798 04/24/2013
(Kumar V, Chichili VP, Zhong L, Tang X, Velazquez-Campoy A, Sheu FS, Seetharaman J, Gerges NZ, Sivaraman J.) Sci Rep. 2013;3:1392 PMID: 23462742 PMCID: PMC3589724 03/07/2013
(Shin SM, Zhang N, Hansen J, Gerges NZ, Pak DT, Sheng M, Lee SH.) Nat Neurosci. 2012 Dec;15(12):1655-66 PMID: 23143515 PMCID: PMC3804128 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84870494059 11/13/2012
(Garrison SR, Kramer AA, Gerges NZ, Hillery CA, Stucky CL.) Mol Pain. 2012 Sep 10;8:62 PMID: 22963123 PMCID: PMC3495672 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84865847334 09/12/2012
(Danielson E, Zhang N, Metallo J, Kaleka K, Shin SM, Gerges N, Lee SH.) J Neurosci. 2012 May 16;32(20):6967-80 PMID: 22593065 PMCID: PMC3365591 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-84861121293 05/18/2012
(Zhong L, Gerges NZ.) PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e41275 PMID: 22848456 PMCID: PMC3405117 08/01/2012

Effective teaching is essential to build and shape the knowledge base for any successful health profession. This is certainly true for the next generation of pharmacists, who must be well-equipped to meet the growing healthcare needs. I believe in six keys for EFFECTive teaching: 1. Encouraging students to develop self-directed learning. 2. Flexibility and amenability to use innovative approaches for teaching. 3. Feedback seeking. 4. Engaging student interest. 5. Creativity in designing goal-directed syllabi. 6. The big picture: The main goal is always to equip the next-generation pharmacists to ensure optimal patient outcomes

Nashaat Gerges, PhD, BPharm

Research Area: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Synaptic Plasticity

Communication between neuronal cells in the brain occurs through tiny contacts called synapses. The ability of these synapses to change their strength and remodel is termed synaptic plasticity, which is thought to be the cellular correlate of learning and memory. Several neurological and neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and mental retardation) as well as some hormonal and homeostasis abnormalities (e.g., hypothyroidism and stress) have some form of synaptic plasticity malfunction. The research in the laboratory is focused on elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanism of synaptic plasticity, and the associated changes in the disease states.

The major experimental approach is the expression of recombinant neurotransmitter receptors and regulatory proteins tagged with GFP or RFP in organotypic hippocampal cultured slices or in vivo. In order to understand how these regulatory molecules contribute to neuronal function, the lab uses a combination of in vivo and ex vivo electrophysiology, biochemistry, confocal imaging and electron microscopy (EM) analysis.

Electrophysiological whole-cell double recording configuration. Stimulation of Schaffer collateral pathway and simultaneous recording from a control cell and a neuron expressing a regulatory molecule.

Confocal microscopy images for a neuron expressing GluR2-GFP and a regulatory protein tagged with RFP. Immunohistochemistry enables visualizing the surface recombinant receptors (Cy5).

Electron microscopy micrographs of GluR2/3 gold immunolabeling at hippocampal CA1 synapses. * denotes presynaptic terminals; PSD is the postsynaptic density.

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