www.arabneuroscientists.org

versity, Al-Ain in February

2011, and mentioned upcoming

projects in Tunisia, Jordan and

Lebanon. IBRO representatives

also expressed support for our

organizing efforts.

Fellow member Arab Neu-

roscientists shared their pro-

jects towards promoting neu-

roscience in the Arab World.

Dr. Hilal Lashuel debriefed us

on the launching of the Socie-

ty for the Advancement of

Celebrating 6th Annual Arab Neuroscientists Social

The Society for Arab

Neuroscientists (SfAN)

recently celebrated its 6th

Annual Arab Neuroscien-

tists Social at the Society

for Neuroscience's annual

meeting 2011. This past

November, we met in

Washington, D.C., with an

attendance of 50 members.

Members also enjoyed

dinner afterwards at a local

restaurant.

Dr. Raniyah Ramadan Young Arab Neuroscientist Travel Award

This year’s social featured a

short presentation and update

by Dr. Pierre Magistretti, Sec-

retary General of The Interna-

tional Brain Research Organi-

zation (IBRO) and Dr. Carlos

Belmonte, President of IBRO

on many of the activities IBRO

is currently undergoing in the

Middle East and North Africa.

They debriefed us on the IBRO

course and conference held at

the United Arab Emirates Uni-

This year SfAN proudly

provided a travel award compe-

tition titled the "Dr. Raniyah

Ramadan Young Arab Neuro-

scientist Travel Award".

Award applications were

scored by a panel of nation-

wide expert senior neuroscien-

tists. This travel award is a

generous contribution from the

Dr. Raniyah Ramadan Founda-

tion to recognize excellence

and innovation among rising

young Arab Neuroscientists.

The award was presented by

Dr. Tawfik Ramadan and his

wife, Mrs. Siham Ramadan, the

parents of Dr. Raniyah Rama-

dan (biography on page 5).

The award was granted to

Dr. Mohammad Herzallah for

his contributions to understand-

ing the neural mechanisms of

Depression, and for his on-the-

grounds efforts in building the

Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at

Al-Quds University in Pales-

tine.

Dr. Mohammed Herzallah

shares details on the Neurosci-

ence Palestinian initiative at Al

Quds University in his article

on page 2.

Dr. Tawfik and Mrs. Siham Ramadan present the Young Arab

Neuroscientist Travel Award to Dr. Mohammad Herzallah.

Society for Arab Neuroscientists

March 2012 Issue 1

ARAB NEUROSYNAPSE

Inside this issue:

IBRO-MENA chapter 2

How it all started 3

AHNI-AUBMC Multiple

Sclerosis Center

3

The Palestinian Neu-

roscience Initiative

4

Dr. Raniyah Ramadan

biography

5

Awards, Honors and

Recognitions

5-6

SFAN member Publi-

cations 2010-2011

7

On Being a Scientist

Mentorship

8

Science and Technology in

the Arab World (SASTA).

For more information on

SASTA, please visit sasta-

world.com

SfAN’s 6th Annual Arab

Neuroscientists social event

was covered by Ms. P. Mou-

hanna, a journalist from

L'Orient Le Jour, a lebanese

news outlet. SfAN was also

acknowledged by

….cont’d on page 6

www.arabneuroscientists.org

MENA founding conference which will

take place in Tunisia this fall and will

consist of :

1. One full day dedicated to dealing

with all the logistics for the launch

of the IBRO-MENA chapter, organ-

izational structure, and developing a

working strategy and program for

2012.

2. A 2-day Neuroscience School fo-

cused on a specific theme (Fall,

2012, Tunisia).

3. Planning for the 2013 IBRO-MENA

Neuroscience Conference in Beirut.

It is our hope that with your cooper-

ation and active engagement this chap-

ter will evolve very soon to an IBRO

regional office. The launch of the

IBRO-MENA chapter represents an

important step towards more regional

cooperation and coordination to pro-

mote neuroscience and support neuro-

scientists in training the next generation

of neuroscientists in the

MENA region.

I would like to take this op-

portunity to express our

thanks and appreciation to the

Secretary General and Presi-

dent of IBRO and to our fel-

low Arab neuroscientists in

the region and abroad, es-

pcially members of the IBRO-

MENA chapter founding

committee.

This would have not been possible

without their support, service, and com-

mitment to the region.

I also take this opportunity to thank

the members of the Society of Arab

Neuroscientists for their support of this

initiative and our recent activities in the

region. We are counting on your active

participation and engagement in all

IBRO-MENA activities in the region. It

will take all of us working together to

make a difference in the region and your

participation is crucial for our success.

Members of the IBRO-MENA Chapter

Founding Committee:

Dr. Omar El-Agnef UAE

Dr. Abdu Adam UAE

Dr. Abdulmoen Al-Hayani KSA

Dr. Awatif Jamal KSA

Dr. Nayef Saadeh Lebanon

Dr. Noel Ghanem Lebanon

Dr. Nouria Lakhdar-ghazal Morocco

Dr. Nuri Awayn Libya

Dr. Sultan Ahmed Salem Libya

Dr. Faycal Hentati Tunisia

Dr. Hilal A. Lashuel Yemen

Switzerland

For more than one year, we have

been working with other Arab scientists

in the region to get the International

Brain Organization to establish a chap-

ter in the region.

I am pleased to inform you that the

International Brain Research Organiza-

tion (IBRO) has approved the establish-

ment of the IBRO-Middle East North

Africa (MENA) Chapter. What does

this mean? It means 1) IBRO is com-

mitted to promoting neuroscience and

helping neuroscientists in the region; 2)

We will receive funding from IBRO

which combined with local fundraising

efforts will allow us to organize many

more activities, e.g. Neuroscience

schools, conferences, brain awareness

programs and other initiatives to help

scientists in the region.

What does this mean for 2012?

An organizing committee has been

formed and will start to work in the

coming days to plan for the IBRO-

Page 2

ARAB NEUROSYNAPSE

Dr. Carlos Belmonte, Dr. Pierre Magis-

tretti and Dr. Hilal Lashuel (Left to

right). Photo taken at 6th Arab Neurosci-

entists Social, 2011.

By Hilal Lashuel, Ph.D.

IBRO-MENA chapter opens in the Middle East

www.arabneuroscientists.org

SFAN: How it all started Mohyeldin that I really start-

ed thinking: how is it that I

keep bumping into Arab neu-

roscientists? And could it be

that there were more out

there? Together, we made

plans to gather a small group

of Arab neuroscientists at the

upcoming Society for Neuro-

science meeting (SfN). And

so for the first time, at SfN

2005, fewer than 10 Arab

neuroscientists met around a

dinner table in Washington,

D.C. These included: Serin

Atiani, Mounya Elhilali, So-

ha Ashrafi, Ziad Hafed, Mar-

wan Baliki, Najib Majaj, Ah-

med Mohyeldin, and myself.

Recognizing the potential, we

decided to establish a profes-

is a member of SfAN.

In 2003, as a doctoral

student at NYU, I met Najib

Majaj: a PhD student who

became my ‘big brother’ in

science (and real life). Today,

he is a senior research fellow

at NYU, and a member of

SfAN.

In 2005, at the national

conference for the Network

of Arab–American Profes-

sionals, and by complete co-

incidence, I met Ahmed Mo-

hyeldin: an MD/PhD student

who became a key player in

the creation of SfAN. Today,

he is a neurosurgery resident

at Ohio State, and a co-

founder of SfAN.

It wasn’t until meeting

I can’t seem to recall the

precise moment in which the

idea behind the Society for

Arab Neuroscientists (SfAN)

came about. But I have no

doubt that the inspiration

came from a few serendipi-

tous encounters with Arab

neuroscientists over the years

and the tantalizing realization

of what we could accomplish

together.

In 2000, as an undergrad-

uate at UPENN, I met

Kareem Zaghloul: an MD/

PhD student who became my

first Arab mentor in neurosci-

ence (and activism). Today,

he is clinical faculty in neuro-

surgery at NIH, with an inde-

pendent research group, and

Abu Haidar Neuroscience Institute (AHNI) at American University

of Beirut Medical Center Launched the First Multiple Sclerosis

Center in the Middle East and North Africa

mission is to improve MS

treatment, control disease

progression and to provide

patients and their families

with compassionate, compre-

hensive, innovative and tech-

nologically advanced care of

the highest quality. The cen-

ter is lead by qualified multi-

disciplinary faculty and staff.

The AHNI and MSC di-

rector is Dr. Samia J. Khoury.

Additionally, Dr. Khoury

holds the titles of Jack,

Sadie, and David Breakstone

Professor of Neurology at

Harvard Medical School and

co-director of Partners Multi-

ple Sclerosis Center at

Brigham and Women’s Hos-

pital. She is the recipient of

several awards including the

Kuweit prize in Immunology

in 2007. Her research focuses

Abu-Haidar Neuroscience

Institute (AHNI) is a key

component of the American

University of Beirut (AUB)

Medical Center 2020 vision

that is being realized by the

new AUB MC Leadership.

The institute’s vision is to

coordinate and promote clini-

cal services, teaching and

research functions of the neu-

rosciences at the American

University of Beirut, and to

foster the development of a

multidisciplinary approach to

the treatment of nervous sys-

tem diseases. The AHNI will

strive to become a leading

neuroscience center in the

Middle East. The institute

consists of the Neurosurgery

Division, Neuro-Intensive

care unit, Psychiatry Depart-

ment, Neurology Department

Page 3

Issue 1

Dr. Samia J. Khoury, Director of Abu

Haider Neuroscience Institute and

Multiple Sclerosis Center

By Yasmine El-Shamayleh, Ph.D.

sional society that would meet

at SfN every year. We held

our first official meeting at

SfN 2006 in Atlanta, GA, and

have met at SfN every year

since.

More than six years later,

SfAN boasts 170+ members at

all levels of academia and

industry. SfAN provides a

platform for professional net-

working between Arab neuro-

scientists at the international

level; it allows us to connect,

collaborate, support each other

through mentorship, and cele-

brate our contributions to the

field of neuroscience. We also

hope to promote and advance

science education and research

in the Arab world.

By Samia J. Khoury, M.D.

and Department of Neurosci-

ence. The AHNI is working

on establishing many centers

of excellence and creating a

neuroscience database. The

AHNI has recently launched

a new center of excellence

the Multiple Sclerosis Center

(MSC).

AUB MC MSC was inau-

gurated on the 4th of October,

2011. It is the first center

designated for MS patients in

Lebanon, Middle East and

North Africa. The center’s

on investigating the immune

mechanisms of Multiple Sclero-

sis and the interactions between

the immune system and neural

stem cells.

www.arabneuroscientists.org

In 2009 the Palestinian

Neuroscience Initiative (PNI)

was established by Moham-

mad Herzallah, M.D. (faculty,

Al-Quds; Ph.D. candidate,

Rutgers-Newark), Adel Misk,

M.D. (faculty, Al-Quds Uni-

versity) and Yasin Tayem,

M.D., Ph.D. (faculty, Al-Quds

University), aiming to lay the

foundations of neuroscience

research in Palestine and make

formidable contributions to

research and health care

in Palestine, while creat-

ing a powerhouse for

research and educational

collaborations with part-

ners worldwide. We

pride ourselves in our

connection to (1) Rutgers

University-Newark, and

are greatly appreciative

of the efforts of Dr. Mark

Gluck, and the entire

Gluck Lab team for their

continued support and

guidance, (2) Dr. Hilal

Lashuel, École Polytech-

nique Fédérale de Lau-

sanne and (3) Dr. Mo-

hammed Milad, Massa-

chusetts General Hospital and

the Harvard Medical School.

We are grateful for their efforts

and commitment to train our

students and promote neurosci-

ence in Palestine.

Our achievements over the

last three years

Research and Human Capaci-

ty building: Since 2009, we

trained 22 Palestinian medical

students, and built a fully

equipped Cognitive Neurosci-

ence Laboratory (ACNL) at Al

-Quds University. Further-

more, we developed joint col-

laborative projects with 20

local Palestinian neurologists

and psychiatrists. We estab-

lished research referral and

testing programs at mental

health clinics in Hebron,

Ramallah, Jenin, Jericho, Beth-

lehem, and East Jerusalem.

Moreover, we hosted seven

neuroscience colloquium talks

at Al-Quds University featur-

ing several distinguished and

internationally renowned neu-

roscientists as guest speakers.

In 2010, with great help from

Drs. Gluck and Milad, the PNI

sponsored three Palestinian

medical students (now ob-

tained their M.D.s; Dr. Omar

Danoun, Dr. Asmaa Nayfeh

and Dr. Taha Qaraqi) to travel

to the U.S. for six weeks of

advanced training at Rutgers

University and Harvard Uni-

versity Medical School. In

2011, with support from IBRO

and UAE University, Al-Ain,

Mr. Issa Isaac, a medical stu-

dent member of the PNI, par-

ticipated in the first Middle

East IBRO mini-school and

conference in UAE. Also in

2011, with the invaluable sup-

port of Dr. Lashuel, two Pales-

tinian medical students (Ms.

Salam Abdullatif and Mr.

Hussain Khdour) spent the

summer conducting hands-on

research and acquiring ad-

vanced training in molecular

and behavioral neuroscience in

the laboratories of Dr. Lashuel

and Dr. Sandi at the École

Polytechnique Fédérale de

Lausanne.

Publications: Since 2009,

two neuroscience papers by

members of the PNI have been

published in international peer-

reviewed journals, using data

collected solely in Palestine,

with three additional manu-

scripts in preparation.

Ongoing projects: Dr.

Joman Natsheh, a post-doc at

the PNI, is currently leading a

team of five other Palestinian

female doctors and medical

students at Al-Quds University

to establish a new Palestinian

Women’s Mental Health

Initiative that will address

three critical regional needs:

(1) recruiting and training

more Palestinian female psy-

chiatrists and neurologists, (2)

improving clinical treatment

for mood disorders and other

mental health problems among

Arab women, and (3) creating

research programs conducted

by women, to better understand

local mental health issues for

women.

The Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative

Page 4

ARAB NEUROSYNAPSE

The Neuroscience team at Al Quds University, Abu Dis, Palestine

By Mohammad Herzallah, M.D.

The Palestinian Neurosci-

ence Initiative will assist in the

establishment of a future Pales-

tinian Neuroscience Institute at

Al-Quds University to be

housed on the Abu Dis cam-

pus. The Institute will provide

advanced training and research

support for Palestinian medical

students, doctors, and scientists

and establish cooperative train-

ing and research programs with

other regional medical and

scientific institutions

in neighboring coun-

tries. The Palestinian

Neuroscience Institute

will also administer a

broader Palestinian

Neuroscience Society,

open to Palestinian

scientists, doctors, and

students around the

world working in

fields such as neurolo-

gy, psychiatry, cogni-

tive psychology, geri-

atrics, neuropsycholo-

gy, and neuroscience.

We, at the Pales-

tinian Neuroscience

Initiative, would like

to take this opportunity to

thank all the involved faculty,

students, researchers and sup-

porters for their tremendous

efforts, commitment and dedi-

cation, without which none of

these achievements would have

been possible. On their behalf,

we would like to express our

thanks and deep appreciation

to the Society for Arab Neuro-

scientists and its members for

their encouragement and sup-

port of this initiative and our

efforts to build the infrastruc-

ture for neuroscience research,

and to train the next generation

of neuroscientists in Palestine.

For more info, please visit

our website: http://neuroscience.med.alquds.edu

www.arabneuroscientists.org

Raniyah Tawfik Ramadan,

PhD., 34, was born on Sep-

tember 30, 1976 in Oklahoma

City, OK, the daughter of Dr.

Tawfik and Siham Ramadan.

Upon graduation from Ada

High School, Raniyah attend-

ed the University of Oklaho-

ma where she was awarded

her Bachelor’s of Science in

1998. In 2000, she received

her Master’s in Public

Health, followed by a Doc-

torate in Neuroscience in

2007, during which she au-

thored and co-authored sever-

al articles for academic jour-

nals. Raniyah was then

awarded a prestigious post-

doctoral research fellowship

in ophthalmology and visual

sciences at Case Western

Reserve University in Cleve-

land, Ohio.

She relocated to New

York to pursue further re-

search in NeuroOphthalmolo-

gy with Regeneron Pharma-

ceuticals, Inc. in August 18,

2008, where she worked on

ocular disease models. “She

was such a brilliant young

scientist with so much to of-

fer – a real pleasure to work

with,” explained her col-

league Jingtai. “Bright, en-

thusiastic, always smiling and

caring for others, she was a

lovely friend and a kind col-

league to many who had the

pleasure of knowing her and

working at her side.”

During the year Raniyah

worked at Regeneron, she

initiated the protocol for ani-

mal models of ocular inflam-

matory diseases that affect

about two million Americans

today. She also conducted the

histology analysis for our

uveitis models in rats and

mice. She characterized the

acute inflammatory model

with different time-points,

during which she also taught

a summer intern to perform

the injections and ocular his-

tology.

As one of her models was

induced by systemic inflam-

mation that might involve

other organs, she actively

offered some tissue samples

to the kidney study being

conducted by the

cardiovascular

group, in which the

kidney showed sig-

nificant changes

after the systemic

inflammatory in-

sults. “Raniyah was

a brilliant scientist

who was a great

addition to our

group – ready to

help in any way she

could,” Wudali add-

ed. “Her death is a huge loss,

not just for us, but to the en-

tire scientific world.”

She was an active member

of the Junior League of Okla-

homa City, a non-profit or-

ganization committed to pro-

moting volunteerism among

women. Raniyah participated

in the Boys and Girls Club

Child Literacy Placement,

providing meals, as well as a

wide range of activities both

before and after school to

inner city, underprivileged

adolescents. Raniyah is sur-

vived by her parents, four

sisters, brother, niece, and

Dr. Raniyah Ramadan: in Memoriam

Page 5

Issue 1

Dr. Raniyah Ramadan presenting a

poster at the University of Oklahoma

Health Sciences Center in 2007.

two nephews. Last month, the

Ramadan family have been

blessed with another niece of

Raniyah’s who is lucky to

have her aunt’s name. Raniyah

passed away from medical

complications on July 25, 2011

in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

She is very dearly missed by

everyone who knows her.

Excerpts of article reprinted with

permission from Regenorater, a

newsletter from Regeneron Phar-

maceuticals Inc.

2011 Awards, Honors and Recognitions

Samia Joseph Khoury

Beirut, Lebanon

Elected Fellow-American

Academy of Neurology

Gold Award-Medical

Alumni of the American

University of Beirut

Appointed as Director for

Abu Haidar Neuroscience

Institute and Multiple Scle-

rosis Center at the Ameri-

can University of Beirut

Medical Center

grant for recruiting distin-

guished young scientists

(清华大学人才支持基金,

985三 期 经 费 拨 款553405003)

Hibah O. Awwad

Oklahoma, USA

John H. Bruce Award

American Association of

Colleges of Pharmacy

AACP-Walmart Scholar

SFN postdoc travel award

Engy Ahmed Abdelrahman

Ali, Auburn, USA

Outstanding graduate stu-

dent from the department

of Pharmacal Sciences,

Harrison school of pharma-

cy, Auburn University

Nashat Abumaria

Beijing, China

Associate Professor

(research track) at school

of medicine, Tsinghua Uni-

versity, Beijing, China

985 Tsinghua University

Ahmed Z. Obeidat

Ohio, USA

Nov 2010 – Present, elected

to The Phi Kappa Phi Honor

Society

Graduate Student Excellence

Award

The best Platform presenta-

tion. Biomedical Sciences

PhD Research Retreat.

Wright State University,

Dayton, OH

(submitted by SFAN members)

www.arabneuroscientists.org

Huda Y. Zoghbi Receives 2011 Gruber Neuroscience Prize—

Research Points to Treatment of Neurological Disorders

not identify the cause of their

disorders. She says she went

into research “to discover

something that might help the

patient.”

Originally from Beirut,

Lebanon, in 1976 Zoghbi fled

civil war in her country and

completed her medical train-

ing in the U.S. She served her

residency and a postdoctoral

fellowship at Baylor College

of Medicine in Houston, Tex-

as, where she has continued

to work ever since.

Excerpts of article reprinted with

permission from The Gruber

Foundation.

www.gruberprizes.org

laborator Dr. Harry Orr, pro-

vided insights on the role of

protein aggregation in neuro-

degeneration.

Huda Zoghbi’s work has

inspired many other research-

ers in the broad field of neu-

rological disorders, and

serves as an exemplar of how

complex brain disorders can

be better understood by basic

genetics and molecular neu-

roscience.

Zoghbi entered the lab

through the doctor’s office.

Originally trained as a clini-

cal pediatric neurologist, she

was seeing too many patients

that she could not help signif-

icantly because science could

Professor Huda Zoghbi,

M.D. is being honored with

the $500,000 Prize for work

tracing genetic links to a

number of neurological disor-

ders including Rett Syn-

drome, autism spectrum dis-

orders and inherited ataxias.

Huda Zoghbi discovered

that mutations in the MECP2

gene cause Rett syndrome, an

autism spectrum disorder.

Her work on MECP2 offers a

new understanding of gene

regulation in brain disorders

and opens a new approach to

studies of autism and other

psychiatric disorders. She

also illuminated the genetic

basis of several spinocerebel-

lar ataxias and with her col-

Page 6

ARAB NEUROSYNAPSE

Learn more about Dr. Zoghbi's award

http://

www.gruberprizes.org/

GruberPrizes/

Neuroscience_PressRel

ease.php?awardid=61

6th Annual Arab Neuroscientist Social Cont’d

share the success of our

members.

We look forward to every-

one’s participation at the 7th

Annual Arab Neuroscientists

Social in New Orleans, LA,

during the Society for Neuro-

science 2012 meeting.

In other outreach efforts

and future collaborative initi-

atives, members of the organ-

izing commitee contacted and

met with program coordina-

tors at the National Academy

of Sciences headquarters in

Washington, DC.

We are very happy to see

the society growing and to

Nature Publishing Group

at the Neuroscience meeting

where they sent complimen-

tary gifts to SfAN members

as a promotion for their Na-

ture Middle East initiative.

Copies of the most recent

issue of Nature were also

distributed to SfAN mem-

bers.

Join us at the 7th

Annual Arab Neuroscientists Social

SfN Neuroscience Meeting 2012

in New Orleans, LA

...cont’d from page 1.

www.arabneuroscientists.org

Arab Neuroscientists Publications (2010-2011)

Husain SS, Stewart D, Desai R, Hamouda AK, Li SG, Kelly E, Dostolo-

va Z, Zhou X, Cotton JF, Raines DA, Olsen RW, Cohen JB, Forman SA, and Miller KW. (2010) p-Trifluoromethyldiazirinyl-Etomidate: A Potent

Photoreactive General Anesthetic Derivative of Eomidate that is Selective for Ligand-Gated Cationic Ion Channels. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

53: 6432-6444.

daCosta, CJ, Sturgeon RM, Hamouda AK, Blanton MP, and Baenziger J

E (2011) Structural Characterization and Agonist Binding to Human α4β2

Nicotinic Receptors. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communica-tions 407: 456–460

Hamouda AK, Stewart, D., Husain, S. S., and Cohen, J. B. (2011) Multi-

ple Transmembrane Binding Sites for Trifluoromethyldiazirinyletomidate,

a Photoreactive Torpedo Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Allosteric Inhibitor. Journal of Biological Chemistry 286:20466-20477.

Donica CL, Ramirez VI, Awwad HO, Zaveri NT, Toll L, Standifer KM.

Orphanin FQ/nociceptin activates nuclear factor kappa B. .J Neuroim-

mune Pharmacol. 2011 Dec;6(4):617-25.

Karuppagounder SS, Ahuja M, Buabeid M, Abdel-Rahman E, Suppira-

maniam V, Dhanasekaran M.Assessment: Chronic Exposure to Diquat -

Neurological, Neurobehavioral and Molecular Neurotoxicity in mice.

Neurochemical Research, 2011. Accepted.

Shonesy BC, Thiruchelvam K, Parameshwaran K, Abdel Rahman E,

Karuppagounder SS, Huggins KW, Pinkert VA, Amin R, Dhanasekaran M, Suppiramaniam V. Central insulin resistance in intracerebroventricular

-streptozotocin (STZ) injected rodents correlates with synaptic dysfunc-

tion. Neurobiology of Aging XX, (2011) XXX. In press.

Suppiramaniam V, Abdel-Rahman EA, Buabeid MA, and

Parameshwaran K (2010) Ion Channels. In: Charlene A. McQueen, Com-

prehensive Toxicology, volume 13, pp. 129–171 Oxford: Academic Press.

Suppiramaniam V, Abdel-Rahman EA, and Parameshwaran K (2010).

Neurotransmitter Receptors. In: Charlene A. McQueen, Comprehensive Toxicology, volume 13, pp. 101–128 Oxford: Academic Press.

Slutsky I*, Abumaria N*, Wu L J, Huang C, Zhang L, Li B, Govindara-

jan A, ZhaoMG, Zhuo M, Tonegawa S, Liu G (2010). Enhancement of

Learning and Memory by Elevating Brain Magnesium. Neuron. 65: 165-177.* Equal contribution

Abumaria N, Yin B, Zhang L, Li XY, Chen T, Descalzi G, Zhao L, Ahn

M, Luo L, Ran C, Zhuo M, and Liu G. Effects of Elevation of Brain Mag-

nesium on Fear Conditioning, Fear Extinction, and Synaptic Plasticity in the Infralimbic Prefrontal Cortex and Lateral Amygdala. The Journal of

Neuroscience, 2011, 31(42):14871–14881.

El Khoury-Malhame M, Reynaud E, Soriano A, Michael K, Salgado-

Pineda P, Zendjidjian X, Gellato C, Eric F, Lefebvre MN, Rouby F, SAm-

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Page 7

Issue 1

(submitted by SFAN members)

www.arabneuroscientists.org

Arab Neurosynapse Editorial Board

Hibah O. Awwad, Ph.D.

Yasmine El-Shamayleh, Ph.D.

Joman Y. Natsheh, M.D.

Abeer W. Saeed, M.Sc.

For questions, comments or suggestions,

please contact us via e-mail:

newsletter@arabneuroscientists.org

The Society for Arab Neuroscientists mis-

sion is three-fold:

1) To promote professional networking and collabo-

rations among Arab neuroscientists in academia

and industry.

2) To recognize excellence and innovation in the

field of neuroscience by Arab neuroscientists.

3) To advance neuroscience education in the Arab

world and leverage support for research and de-

velopment in the region.

Society for Arab Neuroscientists - ARAB NEUROSYNAPSE

One of the important factors for a

successful graduate experience lies in

finding a good mentor; one that takes a

personal as well as a professional interest

in the development of a beginning re-

searcher. Like any other relationship, a

healthy mentorship presents mutual bene-

fits and responsibilities to both mentor

and mentee.

To the mentor, some of the benefits

include affirmation of professional com-

petence and an expanded network of pro-

fessional colleagues. A mentor should

invest significant time in the mentoring

relationship, be a good, non-judgemental

listener, patient and trustworthy. Some of

the mentor’s responsibilities include clar-

Mentorship

ifying expectations and requirements,

early on and explicitly regarding

mentee’s progress and quality of work

while providing a structured and predict-

able environment for the mentee. This

can be done by holding regular, frequent

meetings, and helping them divide larger

goals and projects into small manageable

tasks.

As for the mentee, having a mentor

offers invaluable benefits including: the

increased self-esteem and the confidence

to challenge oneself to achieve new goals

and explore alternatives. However, to

achieve the most out of a mentorship, it is

the mentee’s responsibility to actively

engage in discussions with the mentor, to

be prepared to ask for specific guidance

and advice, to take the initiative to ask

for feedback, to be considerate and re-

spectful of the mentor’s time and al-

ways show appreciation for any assis-

tance offered.

… On being a scientist Life as a neuroscientist entails many challenges; this column will tackle questions relevant to novice and veteran neuroscientists

and offer advice and tips on career advancement.

Visit us on the Web! www.arabneuroscientists.org

By Abeer W. Saeed, M.Sc.

Join SFANs Linked in group by clicking the “in” box

above. Linkedin is our professional forum for members

discussions as well as a place to post job openings or

career-related questions.