Yasir El-Sherif, Ph.D.

 

Higher Education:

 

1.  1998 – Present                                           CUNY Graduate School

      PhD. in Neuroscience (12/2002)

 

2.  2001                                                           CUNY Graduate School

     Master of Philosophy (Biology)

 

3.  1994 – 1998                                               College of Staten Island

      Bachelor’s of Science (B.S.) / Biology

 

Teaching Experience:

 

1.  Fall 2002                                                    College of Staten Island

     Adjunct/Lecturer

     Anatomy & Physiology (Biology 150 – Lecture and Lab)  

 

2.  Spring 2001                                                College of Staten Island

     Adjunct/Lecturer                                     

     Introduction to Human Anatomy & Physiology (Biology 102 - Lab)

 

3.  Fall 2000                                                    College of Staten Island

     Adjunct/Lecturer                                     

     Anatomy & Physiology (Biology 150 - Lecture)

 

4.  Spring 2000                                                College of Staten Island

     Adjunct/Lecturer                                    

     Biology for Non-Science Majors (Biology 107 - Lab)

 

 

                                                                       

 

Work Experience:

 

1.   2001-Current                                             Research Foundation

      Research Assistant

      Assist in research projects (unrelated to my dissertation), as well as maintain and                               

      upgrade electrophysiological equipment.

 

2.  1998 – 1999                                               College of Staten Island

     College Assistant (Animal Caretaker)

     Care of animals in the science buildings animal facility (at the College of Staten

      Island).  Handling of mice, rats, pigeons and canaries.

 

3.  Fall 1998                                                    College of Staten Island

     CLT for CHM 250

     Prepared organic chemistry labs for undergraduate chemistry course.

 

4.  1996 – 1997                                               Brooklyn V.A. Medical Center

     Research Assistant

     Worked at the Brooklyn V.A. medical center assisting in clinical cardiology based

     research (development of new Holter monitor which utilizes a computer based flash

     memory card to store signals for off-line analysis). 

 

 

Publications:

 

1.     Yasir El-Sherif, Neil Singh, Tara Khan and Andrzej Wieraszko "The effects of glutamate uptake inhibitors on hippocampal evoked potential in vitro" Acta Neurobiolo. Experimentalis (1999) 59(2): 89-97.

2.     Tatyana Adayev, Yasir El-Sherif, Madhabi Barua, Nicholas J. Penington and Probal Banerjee "Agonist Stimulation of the Serotonin1A Receptor Causes Supression of Anoxia Induced Apoptosis via Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase in Neuronal HN2-5 Cells" J. Neurochem. (1999) 72: 1489-1496.

3.     Luiz G.F. Lopes, Andrzej Wieraszko, Yasir El-Sherif, Michael J. Clarke "The trans-labilization of nitric oxide in RuII complexes by C-bound imidazoles" Inorganica Chimica Acta (2001) 312: 15-22.

4.     Michael Hogan, Yasir El-Sherif, Andrzej Wieraszko "The Effects of Melatonin on Hippocampal Evoked Potentials" J. Pineal Res. (2001) 30(2): 87-96.

5.     Yasir El-Sherif, Andrzej Wieraszko, Probal Banerjee and Nicholas J. Penington  “ATP induces a non-selective cation current and modulates Na channel gating in a hippocampal neuronal cell line”  Brain Research (2001) 904(2): 306-317.

6.     Yasir El-Sherif, Michael V. Hogam, Jene’ Tesoriero, Andrzej Wieraszko “Factors Regulating the Influence of Melatonin on Hippocampal Evoked Potentials: Comparitive Studies on Different Strains of Mice.”  Brain Research (2002) 945(2): 191-201.

 

 

 

Abstracts:

 

1.     Hogan, M., Y. El-Sherif, A. Wieraszko.  Melatonin modulates the neuronal activity of the mouse hippocampus. Society for Neuroscience Abstract (2000) 30:76.25

 

2.   Wieraszko, A., Hogan, M., El-Sherif, Y., Tesoriero, J., Raja, H.  The influence of melatonin on the hippocampal glutamergic system.  Journal of Neurochemistry Abstracts (2002) 81(supl. 1): AP11-09.

 

Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

1.     Reviewed a textbook for Benjamin Cummings titled, “Principles of Human Physiology, by William J. Germann and Cindy L. Stanfield” © 2002

2.     Received 3 continuous years of radiation training and licensing.

 

 

Proficient Techniques:

 

1.     Tissue culture – culturing neuroblastomas (HN2, F-11, etc.)

2.     Preparation of mouse hippocampal slices.

3.     Extracellular field recordings from hippocampal slices (Population Spike, EPSP and Fiber Volley; refer to El-Sherif et al. 1999, Luiz et al., 2001, Hogan et al., 2001, El-Sherif et al., 2002).  Studies in the hippocampus including LTP (induced by High frequency Stimulation - HFS), paired pulse inhibition, paired pulse facilitation (manuscript in review).

4.     Extracellular field recording from canary slices (recorded from RA nucleus and HvC). 

5.     Whole cell patch-clamp technique (refer to Adayev, et al, 1999 and El-Sherif et al., 2001).  Recorded Voltage-gated Na⁺ and Ca²⁺ channels from a number of different cell lines, including HN2, HN2-5, F-11, and acute hippocampal neurons. 

6.     Radioligand binding – [³H]-Melatonin Binding (El-Sherif, 2002) and [³H]-Glutamate Binding using both a modified centrifugation technique and a rapid filtration technique.

7.     [³H]-D-aspartate uptake and release from crude hippocampal synaptosomes.  Designed a simple system to perfuse hippocampal synaptosomes and measure release.  More recently began using Brandel Suprafusion 1000 system for release studies. 

8.     General use of Confocal laser scanning microscope (using both an older Leica system and newer Olympus system).  Utilized in the imaging of: a) GFAP labeled astrocytes from cerebellum and, b) calcein AM and propidium iodide double stained sections from both mouse and pigeon hippocampus.

9.     Intracellular injection of fluorescent dyes (Luciferase) into hippocampal neuroblastomas.

 

 

Current Research Projects:

1.     We are also currently testing different kinase inhibitors, for their ability to modulate the attenuation and/or the recovery/amplification phases of melatonin. 

2.     In another set of experiments we are looking at the: a) interaction of melatonin with glutamate binding to hippocampal synaptic membranes and   b) the effect of melatonin on uptake/release of [H³]-D-Aspartate from crude hippocampal synaptosomes.

3.     Experiments are also being performed to characterize the electrophysiological responses of hippocampal slices from fragile X mice (Fmr-1).

4.     Studies are also underway to identify voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channel expression in hippocampal cell lines, following transfection of an unrelated gene (manuscript in review).