Ahmed obtained his BVSc and Master’s degree from Zagazig University, Egypt. Following this he completed a PhD in Veterinary microbiology and immunology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, in collaboration with the National Institute of animal health (NIAH), Japan. The project involved investigating avian cytokines gene expression in response to infection and vaccination with antigenically distinct HPAI-H5N1 viruses.
Following this, Ahmed joined VIPAC, Anses, France as a postdoc. His work involved the characterization of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 viruses (Egyptian and French strains) collected in 2015-2016, and genetic and antigenic characterization of newly emerged IBDV in Egypt.
Before joining The Pirbright Institute, Ahmed worked for the Egyptian Reference Laboratory for veterinary quality control in poultry production to develop and evaluate the efficiency of reverse genetic based vaccines against different circulating viruses (H5N1, H9N2 and H5N8).
For his efforts in controlling and raising awareness against avian influenza in Egypt, he won the World Food Day award for “Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty”, December 2015.
His current research at The Pirbright Institute focuses on generating cell lines with ablated chIFITM expression using CRISPR/Cas9 technology and testing them against wide range of avian pathogens including avian influenza viruses. This approach is believed to increase virus titer in vitro, directly resulting in increased vaccine yields.
