Member(S) Of Institut Pasteur De Tunis

Souheila Guerbouj

Experienced Researcher

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I’m a geneticist and a molecular biologist researcher working at the laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology and Experimental Pathology (MEEP) directed by Pr. I. Guizani. I did my PhD work (1998-2003) in this laboratory in collaboration with the Institute of Tropical Medicine, in Antwerp, Belgium, under the supervision of Pr. J.C. Dujardin. My work concerned analysis of chromosomal size variability by Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis in correlation with clinical pleomorphism of Leishmania (L.) infantum parasites from Tunisia and Southern France (Guerbouj et al., 2001a). I also implemented PCR-RFLP based strategy using gp63 genes for the identification of Old World Leishmania species and analysis of L. infantum intra-specific polymorphism (Guerbouj et al., 2000; 2001b; Dujardin et al., 2002). Since 2005, I have a position at the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis as an Assistant Professor and joined the lab as an associated researcher, then progressed to be a Lecturer in 2015. Since then, I contributed as co-investigator in different national and international collaborations interested in molecular epidemiological studies, which allowed me to gain expertise using molecular techniques for the study and identification of Leishmania species in Tunisia (BenSaid et al., 2006) and Sudan (Elamin et al., 2005; 2008), application of specific PCR tools for canine leishmaniasis investigation in Tunisia (Guerbouj et al., 2014a and b) and parasite identification from Giemsa-stained slides, in Algeria (contribution as PI; Beldi et al., 2017). In the context of elucidating the transmission cycle of CL due to L. infantum, I also contributed to the investigation of phlebotomine sandfly species in northern Tunisia and evaluation of infection rates using molecular tools (Guerbouj et al., 2007). Within this frame, I also contributed showing the involvement of hedgehogs as reservoir hosts of leishmaniasis in Tunisia with specific PCR, PCR-RFLP and sequencing methods (Chemkhi et al., 2015; Souguir-Omrani et al., under review). Actually, I’m a co-PI in a collaborative project with Dr. Y. Mghirbi (PCI support from IPT)) in which we are studying infections and agents, including parasites, in a wide variety of domestic and wild reservoir hosts, for a one health perspective, using HRM strategy and other molecular tools. Also, in the frame of an AUF grant in collaboration with the Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie, Québec, Canada, I’m involved in NGS sequencing and analysis of several genomes of L. infantum responsible of VL and CL in Tunisia and Algeria, for which I am conducting bioinformatics analyses of NGS data for CNV investigation in correlation with clinical pleomorphism.