School of Graduate Studies

MD-PhD Program

jacob elnaggar

Jacob Elnaggar
MD/PhD Candidate
LSUHSC New Orleans
Microbiology, Immunology, & Parasitology
jelnag@lsuhsc.edu

Year:  G3

Hometown:  New Orleans, LA

Education:  B.S. Bioinformatics - Baylor University

Current research interest:  Vaginal Microbiome, Microbial Analysis Techniques, Bioinformatics

Career goal: A physician-scientist that will help move forward personalized treatments for the benefit of patients. 

Best thing about MD/PhD program:  The ability to study and combine my passion of Bioinformatics with the medical field along with the support and guidance of LSUHSC's supportive faculty and physicians.

Hobbies: Tennis, film, photography, hiking, web development, and trying new foods.

What makes me unique:  My background is unique. I am a melting pot of culture resulting from my family, hometown, and education.

What makes me common: I love a good cup of coffee.

Research Experience: 

LSUHSC MD/PhD Program, New Orleans, LA, June 2018 - Present
• I am currently working in the Christopher Taylor Lab in the department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology.
• My goal is to better understand the pathophysiology of bacterial vaginosis to inform diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
• Learning analysis of longitudinal 16S rRNA and Shotgun Metagenomics Sequencing of the vaginal microbiome of women with bacterial vaginosis.

MD Anderson Cancer Center, CPRIT-CURE Summer Undergraduate Program, Houston, TX June 2017 - August 2017
• Worked in the Anil Korkut Lab within the Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.
• There, I implemented a computational model that analyzes treatment resistant melanoma cell lines to nominate novel therapies utilizing proteomics and machine learning.

Baylor University, Bioinformatics Capstone, Waco, TX, August 2016 - December 2016
• Worked with Erich Baker, PhD, on his bioinformatics website, www.Geneweaver.org.
• Created an algorithm for users to compare multiple gene interaction networks, allowing biologists to discover underlying patterns in specific disease models.

LSUHSC Bioinformatics and Genomics Program, New Orleans, LA, June 2016 - August 2016
• Participated in the LSUHSC Undergraduate Research Program in the Chindo Hicks Lab within the Department of Genetics.
• Analyzed public genomic data for predispositions to triple negative breast cancer
• Published manuscript titled, “An Integrative Genomics Approach for Associating Genetic Susceptibility with the Tumor Immune Microenvironment in Triple Negative Breast Cancer”

LSUHSC Summer Undergraduate Research Program, New Orleans, LA, June 2015 - August 2015
• Worked in the Patricia Molina and Liz Simon Labs in the Department of Physiology whose focus is on chronic alcoholism and HIV/AIDS.
• I investigated the combined effects of chronic binge alcohol administration and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) on cell apoptosis in the prefrontal cortex of Rhesus macaques.

Citations:

  1. Li, X., Dowling, E. K., Yan, G., Bozorgui, B., Imarinad, P., Elnaggar, JH, Luna, A., Menter, D. G., Kopetz, S., Sander, C., Korkut, A. Precision combination therapies based on recurrent oncogenic co-alterations. Cancer Discovery. (2022-03-25) 1158/2159-8290.CD-21-0832
  1. (Abstract, Oral Talk) Elnaggar, J, Lammons J, Toh E, Dong A, Aaron KJ, Meng L, Tamhane A, Lefkowitz EJ, Nelson DE, Muzny CA, Taylor CM. Is Lactobacillus Phage Involved in The Pathogenesis of Bacterial Vaginosis? International Journal of Medical Students [Internet]. (2022-02-16). https://ijms.info/IJMS/article/view/1359

  1. (Abstract, Oral Talk) Elnaggar J, Lammons J, Toh E, Dong A, Aaron KJ, Meng L, Tamhane A, Lefkowitz EJ, Nelson DE, Muzny CA, Taylor CM. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing of longitudinal vaginal specimens: is Lactobacillus phage involved in the pathogenesis of bacterial vaginosis? 2022 UAB Microbiome Symposium; (2022-01-10). https://www.uab.edu/medicine/microbiome/education/microbiome-symposium

  2. Greer M, Elnaggar, JH, Taylor CM, Shen L. Mycoplasma decontamination in Chlamydia trachomatis culture: a curative approach. Pathogens and Disease. (2022-01-12). doi:1093/femspd/ftab056 PMID: 34918079 PMCID: PMC8759436

  3. Lin D, El Alam MB, Jaoude JA, Kouzy R, Phan JL, Elnaggar JH, Resendiz B, Medrano AYD, Lynn E, Nguyen ND, Noticewala SS, Mathew GG, Holliday EB, Minsky BD, Das P, Morris VK, Eng C, Mezzari MP, Petrosino JF, Ajami NJ, Klopp AH, Taniguchi CM, Colbert LE. Microbiome Dynamics During Chemoradiotherapy for Anal Cancer [Preprint]. Oncology; (2021-09-12). http://medrxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2021.09.07.21263233

  4. Baschnagel, A. M., Elnaggar, JH, VanBeek, H. J., Kromke, A. C., Skiba, J. H., Kaushik, S., Abel, L., Clark, P. A., Longhurst, C. A., Nickel, K. P., Leal, T. A., Zhao, S. G., Kimple, R. J. ATR inhibitor M6620 (VX-970) enhances the effect of radiation in non-small cell lung cancer brain metastasis patient derived xenografts. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. (2021-08-19). https://doi.org/10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-21-0305 PMID: 34413128 PMCID: PMC8571002

  5. (Abstract, Poster Presentation) Elnaggar, J, Taylor, C. M., Toh, E., Dong, A., Aaron, K. J., Meng, L., Tamhane, A. R., Lefkowitz, E. J., Nelson, D. E., Muzny, C. A. (2021-04-15). Shotgun Metagenomic Sequencing of Vaginal Specimens Suggests Potential Involvement of Lactobacillus Phage Preceding Incident Bacterial Vaginosis. Louisiana Biomedical Research Network, PA-10.

  6. Hicks C, Elnaggar J, Wu J. Integrating GWAS with Gene Expression Data to Map the Landscape of Luminal Androgen Receptor and Mesenchymal Subtypes of Triple Negative Breast Cancer. J Oncol Res Ther. Published online (2021-01-18). doi:29011/2574-710X.010103

  7. (Abstract, Poster Presentation) Taylor CM, Toh E, Dong Q, Van Der Pol WJ, Elnaggar JH, Meng L, Lefkowitz EJ, Nelson DE, Muzny CA. Use of Shotgun Metagenomics to Investigate the Pathogenesis of Incident Bacterial Vaginosis. In: Anaerobes 2020: Anaerobes in the Genital Tract GT-10; (2020-07-24). http://www.anaerobe.org/2020/2020abBook.pdf

  8. Elnaggar J, Tsien F, Yates C, Davis M, Miele L, Hicks C. An Integrative Genomics Approach for Associating Genetic Susceptibility with the Tumor Immune Microenvironment in Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research. (2019-02-25). doi:26717/BJSTR.2019.15.002642.

 

Find out more about me at www.JacobElnaggar.com