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Pierre Zalloua ( ar, بيار زلّوعة) is a Lebanese
biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...
. His contributions to biology include numerous researches in genetic predisposition to diseases such as
type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar ...
and
β-thalassemia Beta thalassemias (β thalassemias) are a group of genetic disorder, inherited hemoglobinopathy, blood disorders. They are forms of thalassemia caused by reduced or absent synthesis of the HBB, beta chains of hemoglobin that result in variable out ...
. He is most noted for taking part in the
National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...
's
Genographic Project The Genographic Project, launched on 13 April 2005 by the National Geographic Society and IBM, was a genetic anthropological study (sales discontinued on 31 May 2019) that aimed to map historical human migrations patterns by collecting and ...
.


Youth and education

Pierre Zalloua was born in
Zgharta Zgharta ( ar, زغرتا, syc, ܙܓܪܬܐ), also spelled Zghorta, is a city in North Lebanon, with an estimated population of around 50,000. It is the second biggest city in Northern Lebanon after Tripoli. Zgharta is about 150 metres above sea ...
on February 9, 1965. He obtained his Biology degree from the
American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...
in 1987 and a Genetics master's degree from the
San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...
in
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
in 1990. Zalloua worked on his Doctorate degree in genetics from the
UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
between 1990 and 1996 and graduated in 1996.


Career

Dr. Pierre Zalloua was appointed Dean of Graduate Studies and Research as of October 1, 2013. His past engagements with LAU include Dean of the School of Pharmacy from October 2012 to September 2013 and Professor of Genetics at the School of Medicine. He joined LAU in 2007. He also holds the position of Adjunct Professor of Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. An accomplished geneticist, writer and lecturer, Dr. Zalloua is a leading authority on the genetics of complex diseases in and among Middle Eastern populations. Much of his recent investigative studies have addressed molecular anomalies observed in people with Type 1 diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD). His research interest is to identify complex disease (Type 1 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer) susceptibility genes, to study their interaction with the environment, and to correlate these interactions with disease onset and manifestation. In the last few years, he has made considerable progress in identifying diabetes and CAD disease susceptibility gene variants. Dr. Zalloua has also conducted extensive research on the genetic links between various Middle Eastern and Mediterranean populations. Recently, he has started to work in the field of population patterns of human migrations using DNA. He is currently leading an investigative team that will obtain DNA samples from indigenous populations in the Middle East and North Africa to study their genetic commonalities. This study is part of what is known as the Genographic Project (a grant from the National Geographic Society, 2006–2010). He was also the principal investigator for the FGENTCARD Project, a European Union research project (2007–2009). He was recently awarded a large grant from the Qatar National Research Foundation to study the genetic susceptibility to Type 2 diabetes. Dr. Zalloua graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1987 with a B.S. in Biology. He earned his M.A. in Biological Sciences from San Jose State University in 1990, and his Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of California, Davis in 1996. He completed research fellowships in genetics at the University of California, Davis (1996–1997), in molecular biology at Applied Biosystems (1997–1998), and in population genetics (1998–2001) at the Harvard School of Public Health. He was an Assistant Professor, and then Associate Professor in the school of medicine at the American University of Beirut between 2003 and 2007.


Awards and grants

Dr. Zalloua received many grants from national and international organizations including: National Geographic Society, European Commission, Lown Scholar Grant- Harvard University, Qatar National Research Foundation, Eli Lilly, Lebanese National Center Scientific Research, etc...


Film

2004 – Quest for the Phoenicians (PBS)


Media appearances

2009 – CNN: Inside the Middle East. watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP7TcPj7UAE 2007 – Kalam el Nass – LBC. watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoPGLFY1Lxs 2004 – National Geographic Television. 1 Hour film featuring work on the genetic patterns of human migrations in the Middle East, aired on National Geographic Television worldwide and the PBS TV station in the US and Canada. 2004 – National Geographic Magazine. 22 page feature article in the October issue, 2004 that features study on the genetic patterns of human migrations in the Middle East. 2004 – National Geographic Magazine (French Version). 22 page feature article in the November issue, 2004 that features study on the genetic patterns of human migrations in the Middle East.


Selected peer-reviewed journal articles

1. Marc Haber, Dominique Gauguier, Sonia Youhanna, Nick Patterson, Priya Moorjani, Laura R. Botigué, Daniel E. Platt, Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith, David F Soria-Hernanz, R. Spencer Wells, Jaume Bertranpetit, Chris Tyler-Smith, David Comas, Pierre A Zalloua. Genome-wide diversity in the Levant reveals recent structuring by culture. PLoS Genetics, 2013 Feb;9(2) 2. Danielle A Badro, Bouchra Douaihy, Marc Haber, Sonia C Youhanna, Angélique Salloum, Michella Ghassibe-Sabbagh, Brian Johnsrud, Georges Khazen, Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith, David F Soria-Hernanz, R Spencer Wells, Chris Tyler-Smith, Daniel E Platt, Pierre A Zalloua, The Genographic Consortium. Y-Chromosome and mtDNA genetics reveal significant contrasts in affinities of modern Middle Eastern populations with European and African populations. PLoS ONE, 2013;8(1). 3. Large-scale association analysis identifies new risk loci for coronary artery disease. Nature Genetics. December 2012, Nature Genetics doi:10.1038/ng.2480 http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.2480.html 4. Michella Ghassibe-Sabbagh, Daniel E. Platt, Sonia Youhanna, Antoine B. Abchee, Krista Stewart, Danielle A. Badro, Marc Haber, Angelique K. Salloum, Bouchra Douaihy, Hamid el Bayeh, Raed Othman, Nabil Shasha, Samer Kibbani, Elie Chammas, Aline Milane, Rita Nemr, Yoichiro Kamatani, Jörg Hager, Jean-Baptiste Cazier, Dominique Gauguier, Pierre A. Zalloua, FGENTCARD Consortium. Genetic and environmental influences on total plasma homocysteine and its role in coronary artery disease risk. Atherosclerosis. 2012 May;222(1). 5. Jörg Hager, Yoichiro Kamatani, Jean-Baptiste Cazier, Sonia Youhanna, Michella Ghassibe-Sabbagh, Daniel E. Platt, Antoine B. Abchee, Jihane Romanos, Georges Khazen, Raed Othman, Danielle A. Badro, Marc Haber, Angelique K. Salloum, Bouchra Douaihy,4 Nabil Shasha, Samer Kibbani, Hana Sbeite, Elie Chammas, Hamid el Bayeh, Francis Rousseau, Diana Zelenika, Ivo Gut, Mark Lathrop, Martin Farrall, Dominique Gauguier, Pierre A. Zalloua, and the FGENTCARD Consortium. Genome-wide Association Study in a Lebanese Cohort Confirms PHACTR1 as a Major Determinant of Coronary Artery Stenosis. PLoS One. 2012;7(6). 6. Marc Haber, Daniel E Platt, Maziar Ashrafian Bonab, Sonia C Youhanna, David F Soria-Hernanz, Begoña Martínez-Cruz, Bouchra Douaihy, Michella Ghassibe-Sabbagh, Hoshang Rafatpanah, Mohsen Ghanbari, John Whale, Oleg Balanovsky, R Spencer Wells, David Comas, Chris Tyler-Smith, Pierre A. Zalloua & The Genographic Consortium. Afghanistan’s ethnic groups share a Y-Chromosomal heritage structured by historical events. PLoS One. 2012;7(3). 7. Stephanie Saade, Jean-Baptiste Cazier, Michella Ghassibe-Sabbagh, Sonia Youhanna, Danielle A. Badro, Yoichiro Kamatani, Jörg Hager, Joumana S. Yeretzian, Georges El-Khazen, Marc Haber, Angelique K. Salloum, Bouchra Douaihy, Raed Othman, Nabil Shasha, Samer Kabbani, Hamid El Bayeh, Elie Chammas, Martin Farrall, Dominique Gauguier, Daniel E. Platt, Pierre A. Zalloua, and the FGENTCARD consortium. Large Scale Association Analysis Identifies Three Susceptibility Loci for Coronary Artery Disease. PLoS One. 2011;6(12) 8. Pierre A. Zalloua, Daniel E. Platt, Mirvat El Sibai, Jade Khalife, Nadine Makhoul, Marc Haber, Yali Xue, Hassan Izaabel, Elena Bosch, Susan M. Adams, Eduardo Arroyo, Ana Marı ´a Lo´ pez-Parra, Mercedes Aler, Anto` nia Picornell, Misericordia Ramon, Mark A. Jobling, David Comas, Jaume Bertranpetit, R. Spencer Wells, Chris Tyler-Smith,* and The Genographic Consortium. Identifying Genetic Traces of Historical Expansions: Phoenician Footprints in the Mediterranean.The American Journal of Human Genetics, 83(5):633–42; 2008. 9. Pierre A Zalloua; Yali Xue; Jade Khalife; Nadine Makhoul; Labib Debiane; Daniel E Platt; Ajay K Royyuru; Rene J Herrera; David F Soria Hernanz; Jason Blue-Smith; R. Spencer Wells; David Comas; Jaume Bertranpetit; Chris Tyler-Smith; The Genographic Project. Y-chromosomal diversity in Lebanon is structured by recent historical events. Am J of Human genetics, 82(4):873–82; 2008.


References


External links


LAU Dean's office pagePierre Zalloua on Ehden Family Tree Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zalloua, Pierre Living people 1965 births Lebanese Maronites Lebanese scientists Genetic genealogy American University of Beirut alumni San Jose State University alumni University of California, Davis alumni Archaeogeneticists