Who is Dr. Abdelaziz?
Dr. Abdelaziz joined the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, Clemson University in November 2021 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences. He obtained his Ph.D in immunopathology from Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Canada in conjunction with Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Egypt 2011. Following his Ph.D., he completed his postdoctoral training in the Department of Pathobiology, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph. In 2018, he was appointed to the position of Research Associate in the same department. Before joining Clemson University, he worked for two years in the poultry vaccine industry (Ceva animal Health Inc., Guelph, Canada) as an Innovation and Development Scientist, where he was responsible for developing and licensing vaccines against poultry coccidiosis by USDA and CFIA. Her current research focuses on developing novel immune-based strategies, including vaccines, immunostimulants, and investigating the potential use of probiotics as an alternative to antibiotics to: promote poultry gut health and immune system development and function; prevent or reduce intestinal colonization of chickens by bacterial pathogens of food safety concern, including Campylobacterjejuni, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonellasp. Another area of research in his laboratory is to develop Microbial Ecosystem Therapeutics (microbial consortia) for use in treatment of human campylobacteriosis. For more information, see his department profile.
How Dr. Abdelaziz’s research is transforming health care
Dietary supplementation of antibiotic in poultry feed reduce levels of enteric pathogens. However, due to public health concerns about the impact of antibiotic residues on human health and the potential emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, in 2017, FDA regulations banned antibiotics use for growth promoting purposes across the U.S. The removal of in feed-antibiotics has resulted in re-emergence of the well-controlled diseases of poultry and increased incidence of food-borne illness, consequently leading to their use at therapeutic doses for treatment of these diseases in chickens and humans. The drugs used to treat these diseases during outbreak are category 1 or 2, which are unfavorable from “one health” perspective. Due to these concerns, there is an increased interest in the use of antimicrobial alternatives to fill this gap. Chicken products are considered the main sources of transmission of Campylobacterto humans. Campylobacter infection of humans leads to severe intestinal inflammation. The cost triggered by campylobacteriosis was estimated to be close to $8 billion annually in the US.A variety of antigens and vaccination approaches are under consideration for Campylobactervaccines for humans.
He intends to develop and optimize nano-particles-based systems for in ovo delivery of vaccine formulations against Campylobacterin chickens, including subunit vaccines combined with Toll-like receptors ligands (TLR-L) as adjuvants. Another area of research in his laboratory is to develop Microbial Ecosystem Therapeutics (microbial consortia) for use in treatment of human campylobacteriosis.
Health Research Expertise Keywords
Faculty Scholar, Campylobacter, food-borne illness, gut health, diarrheal illness, vaccine, probiotics, chicken, human
