Hana Sonbol

Alumni

Post-doctoral fellow

Location:

Bld. 2, Lev. 2, Sea Side, 2217-WS04, +966 12 808 2617

Social Profile:

Biography

I am interested in human pathogens in marine environments and, in particular, in prokaryotes (bacteria) and their global distribution in the ocean. My work focuses on the identification of human pathogens in the global oceans. I seek to identify pathogens by analyzing the 16S sequences and metagenomics data in a global oceans database in order to characterize the presence, abundance, and distribution of human pathogens in oceans globally.​

Research Interests

Metagenomics, 16S, Dragon Metagenomic Analysis Platform (DMAP), Seagrass ecosystems, Human pathogens, prokaryotes, Bacteria.​​​

Selected Publications

  • Sonbol, H., McAuley, C.M., Craven, H.M. and Forsythe, S. J. (2012) Multilocus sequence typing of Cronobacter from milk powder and production factories. Journal of International Dairy (In press)
  • Joseph, S., Sonbol, H., Hariri, S., Desai, P., McClelland, M., & Forsythe, S.J. (2012). Diversity of the Cronobacter genus as revealed by multi locus sequence typing. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 50, 3031-3039.
  • Joseph, S., Desai, P., Li, Y. Ji, Y., Cummings, C, A., Shih, R., Degoricija, L.,Rico, A., Brzoska, P., Hamby, S, E., Masood, N., Hariri, S., Sonbol, H., Chuzhanova, N., McClelland, M., Furtado, M, R., & Forsythe, S, J. (2012) Comparative analysis of genome sequences covering the seven Cronobacter species. PLoS ONE, 7,11, e49455 
  • Jackson, E., Sonbol, H., Masood, N. & Forsythe, S. (2014). Genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of Cronobacter species, with particular attention to the newly reclassified species Cronobacter helveticus, Cronobacter pulveris, and Cronobacter zurichensis. Food Microbiology, 44, 226-235.

Education

  • ​​B.Sc., Microbiology, King abdulaziz university, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2007.
  • MSc., Applied Biomolecular Technologies, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, 2011.
  • Ph.D., Clinical Microbiology, Nottingham Trent University, 2016.

Professional Profile

  • ​2014-now Currently Assistant Professor, Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University(PNU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • 2016-now: Postdoctoral fellow, Xelu Moran Group, KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.​​​

KAUST Affiliations

Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Biological and environmental science and engineering division (BESE)