Mazen Saleh
Biography
Following my undergraduate and Master's studies at the University of Waterloo, I joined the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. Under the supervision of Professor Jean Gariepy, my doctorate studies were focused on the biophysics of microbial protein toxins. Prior to joining the Department of Biology at Laurentian University, I spent time as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Colorado State University.
I joined Laurentian University in 2004 as a faculty member in the Department of Biology. I hold cross appointment at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) and I teach courses in microbiology, cell biology, and infectious diseases. My research is in the area of microbial pathogenesis.
Education
- B.Sc. (university of Waterloo)
- M.Sc. (University of Waterloo)
- Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
Academic Appointments
Associate Professor - Laurentian University
Associate Professor - Northern Ontario School of Medicine
On The Web
http://oldwebsite.laurentian.ca/biology/msaleh/index.htmResearch
The area of my expertise is molecular biophysics. My training in this area has been used in the past 15 years to study various aspects of bacterial physiology and their interactions with their environments. Several research programs were carried out in relation to interaction of bacteria with their environments in both pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria. In non-pathogenic bacteria, I used bioinformatics techniques to address certain questions on the process of protein secretion in bacteria. Specifically, how the structural features of signal sequences direct the membrane translocation of signal sequence-containing secretory proteins. I currently have a graduate student looking at the involvement of the mRNA of such secretory proteins in targeting the protein to the membrane for translocation and secretion.
In terms of other aspects of bacterial protein secretion (relevant to pathogenesis), I'm interested in the secretion mechanisms and characterization of bacterial extracellular polypeptides. My group is involved in several projects at the present time to include work with RNA-binding proteins and their role in protein secretion, physiological and immunological comparative studies of Streptomyces and Mycobacteria, and the cloning and characterization of a number of virulence factors of Mycobacteria and Streptomyces.
Teaching
BIOL 2026 EL - Principles of Microbiology
BIOL 2036 EL - Microbiology for the Health Sciences
BIOL 2126 EL - Cell Biology
BIOL 3117 EL - Infectious Diseases
BIOL 5026 EL - Advanced Microbiology I
Publications
- Mazen T. Saleh (Editor). Molecular Aspects of Infectious Diseases. Nova Science Publishers Inc., Hauppauge, New York. ISBN 978-1-61728-690-2. https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products id=15679
- Kinkar, E., Kinkar, A., & Saleh, M. (2020). AU richness within the 5′ coding region of the Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin b mRNA affects toxin secretion. Heliyon, 6(10), e05330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05330
- Kinkar, E, Kinkar, A, Saleh, M. (2019) The Multicopper Oxidase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MmcO) Exhibits Ferroxidase Activity and Scavenges Reactive Oxygen Species in Activated THP-1 Cells. Int’l J. Med. Microbiol. V309(7):151324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmm.2019.06.004
- Butt, S., Saleh, M., & Gagnon, J. (2020). Impact of the Escherichia coli Heat-Stable Enterotoxin b (STb) on Gut Health and Function. Toxins, 12(12), 760. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins12120760
- Kinkar, E., & Saleh, M. (2020). The secretomes of extremophiles. In Physiological and Biotechnological Aspects of Extremophiles (pp. 285-294). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818322-9.00021-6
- Ybazeta, G., Graham, J., Trifkovic, J., Giroux, L., Saleh, M., Sattar, S. A., & Nokhbeh, R. (2018). Complete genome sequences of a diverse group of 13 Propionibacterium acnes bacteriophages isolated from urban raw sewage. Genome announcements, 6(26), e00224-18. https://doi.org/10.1128/genomeA.00224-18
- Voros A, DeLongchamp J, Saleh M (2015) The Secretome of Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capricolum in Neutral and Acidic Media. J Proteomics Bioinform 8:155-163. doi: 10.4172/jpb.1000364
- Evans, S. and Saleh, M. (2015) Cyanobacteria Diversity in Blooms from the Greater Sudbury Area. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 7, 871-882. doi: 10.4236/jwarp.2015.711071.
- Hoang-Yen Thi Truong, Yu-Wei Chen, Mazen Saleh, Susan Nehzati,Graham N. George, Ingrid J. Pickering and Nelson Belzile (2014) Proteomics of Desulfovibrio desulfuricans and X-ray absorption spectroscopy to investigate mercury methylation in the presence of selenium. Metallomics 6:465-475.
- Farag Bleiblo, Paul Michael, Danielle Brabant, Chilakamarti V. Ramana, TC Tai, Mazen Saleh, Joseph E. Parrillo, Anand Kumar, and Aseem Kumar (2012) The Role of Immunostimulatory Nucleic Acids in Septic Shock. Int J Clin Exp Med 5(1):1-23 www.ijcem.com /ISSN:1940-5901/IJCEM1112008
- Farag Bleiblo, Paul Michael, Danielle Brabant, Chilakamarti V. Ramana, TC Tai, Mazen Saleh, Joseph E. Parrillo, Anand Kumar, Aseem Kumar (2012) Bacterial RNA induces myocyte cellular dysfunction through the activation of PKR. J Thorac Dis. DOI: 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2012.01.07
- Danielle Brabant, Paul Michael, Farag Bleiblo, Mazen Saleh, Ravin Narain, T.C. Tai, Chilakamarti V. Ramana, Joseph E. Parrillo, Anand Kumar, and Aseem Kumar (2011) Septic sera induces apoptosis and DNA fragmentation factor 40 activation in fibroblasts. Biochem Biophys Res Com 412:260–265.
- Amanda Voros, Ashley Dunnett, Leo G. Leduc, and Mazen T. Saleh (2009) Depleting proteins from the growth medium of Mycoplasma capricolum unmasks bacterium-derived enzymatic activities. Vet. Microbiol. 138: 384-389.
- Catharine Song, Aseem Kumar, and Mazen T. Saleh (2009) Bioinformatic comparison of bacterial secretomes. Genom. Prot. Bioinform. 7: 37-46.
- Mazen T. Saleh, Catharine Song, Sabah Nasserulla, and L.G. Leduc (2010) Indicators from archaeal secretomes. Microbiol. Res. 165(1): 1-10.