Mounir Bendahmane
Canton,MI
Summary
Seasoned Principal Scientist skilled in designing, executing, and directing in vivo and in vitro experiments in neuroscience and oncology. Superb written and verbal communication skills. Motivated to undertake challenges, explore new areas, and take initiatives. Comfortable with taking risks.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
Work History
Principal Scientist – New applications lead
Penrose TherapeuTx
Plymouth, USA, USA
09.2021 - 11.2022
- Leading the new application team to explore new research areas for company compounds
- Learning and building machine learning-based algorithms for predicting drug activity for company's library of compounds (using Python) resulting in selecting 96 proprietary compounds for 3 possible targets/applications.
- Planning in vivo and in vitro experiments to screen selected compounds in house and with CROs to test drug efficacy of company's drug library in inflammatory bowel diseases.
- Establishing collaboration with other divisions resulting in developing 2 in vitro and 1 in vitro models for IBD as well as designing 30 new compounds.
Research Fellow - Acting director of science
Penrose TherapeuTx
Plymouth, USA, USA
09.2021 - 11.2022
- Led a team of 14 scientists at different levels after leadership changes
- Developed horizontal collaborative culture
- Designed the general scientific strategy in collaboration with group leads
- Increased scientific and operational standards across company leading to establishing SOPs and study reports
- Established business-science cross communication routines
- Led 2 monthly internal science meetings and facilitated inter-divisions collaborations resulting in filtering available data and keeping 4 main projects out of 7
- Worked with HR to establish criteria for career development resulting in 6 employees being promoted
Senior Scientist – Biophysics project manager
Penrose TherapeuTx
Plymouth, USA, USA
09.2019 - 08.2021
- Developed literature-based models for drug effects on ion channels using published papers and Python resulting in the rejection of the initial hypothesis
- Planned and executed in collaboration with the analytical chemistry group drug targeting assays and subcellular drug distribution in cells and isolated mitochondria resulting in quantitative data on subcellular drug distribution of two compounds
- Audited internal data from different groups resulting on a significant shift of the company’s scientific direction based on available results.
- Analyzed data using R language for different groups (in vitro, metabolomics, pharmacokinetics/analytical chemistry).
Research Lab Specialist Senior
University of Michigan Medical School
Ann Arbor, USA, USA
03.2017 - 07.2019
- Designed and executed in vitro experiments to study the molecular mechanisms of neurotransmitter release using imaging techniques resulting in 2 publications
- Coordinated experiments with external collaborators from five academic institutions
- Developed and optimized the protocol for primary mouse chromaffin cell culture adapted for combining patch clamp and Total Internal Reflection Microscopy imaging
- Trained and mentored over 15 students and interns on theoretical and experimental approaches to interrogate the molecular mechanisms of neurotransmitter release.
Postdoctoral fellow
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Memphis, USA, USA
01.2012 - 02.2017
- Designed and performed invasive and noninvasive behavioral assays in rodents to investigate the neuromodulation of the olfactory circuits by cholinergic agonists and antagonists, neuropeptides and hormones communicated in 2 publications and multiple conference abstracts
- Developed a novel non-invasive behavioral protocol to quantify olfactory exploration in rodents communicated in 1 publication
- Designed and executed in vivo imaging to investigate the neuromodulation of the olfactory bulb resulting in 3 publications and multiple conference abstracts.
Education
PhD - Neuroscience
CNRS/INRA
2011
Skills
- Research implementation
- Training and mentoring
- Research and experiments
- Results analysis
- Project management
- Team building
- Strategic planning
- In vivo and in vitro experiments
- Programming (python and R)
- Critical thinking
Languages
French
Native or Bilingual
Arabic
Native or Bilingual
English
Full Professional
Timeline
Principal Scientist – New applications lead
Penrose TherapeuTx
09.2021 - 11.2022
Research Fellow - Acting director of science
Penrose TherapeuTx
09.2021 - 11.2022
Senior Scientist – Biophysics project manager
Penrose TherapeuTx
09.2019 - 08.2021
Research Lab Specialist Senior
University of Michigan Medical School
03.2017 - 07.2019
Postdoctoral fellow
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
01.2012 - 02.2017
PhD - Neuroscience
CNRS/INRA