I am an Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University. I am an editor and reviewer for some scientific journals. I performed my Ph.D. in “Institut Pasteur” Paris and Paris 7 University. I was a Post-Doctoral Researcher then Research Associate in the University of Montreal (CR-CHUM). My research focuses on cytokines and innate immunity (innate APCs and TLRs, etc.) especially in viral infections. Scientific achievements: - Demonstrated the production of the cytokines (growth factors) midkine and pleiotrophin by human innate APCs, and that this happens in a diffferential manner. - Identified the receptor of low affinity of midkine and pleiotrophin. - Discovered sequences in HCV genomic RNA that stimulate the innate immunity via TLRs 7/8. - Identified a role for PD-1 on monocytes (HIV infection). - Defined the normal levels of IL-6 in the human blood. - Demonstrated the capacity of HCV to avoid the proper stimulation of the innate immunity. - Demonstrated that APCs can control endothelial cells proliferation through midkine. - Demonstrated that liver innate immune cells have an inhibitory and a biased profile in HCV and HBV infections. - Documented that sleep deprivation affects immunity. I participated in the identification of an HIV domain that elicits neutralizing antibodies (vaccine candidate) and the demonstration of the importance of PD-1 to revert T-lymphocyte exhaustion in human