Osama Afifi

I have 15 years of work experience that diverse between academic/scientific research experience and Management/ Marketing experience. I’ve always preferred work profiles that involve eco-friendly and smart technology applications in agriculture. Similarly, in post-graduate studies, my research themes were aiming to implement the most advanced technologies in plant science that can revolutionize agricultural technologies. That's why, I’m always passionate about new work endeavors that adopt similar themes.

Publications and Manuscripts in preparation

• Osama Ahmed Afifi, Yuki Tobimatsu, Yuri Takeda-Kimura, Pui Ying Lam, Yuriko Osakabe, Keishi Osakabe, Toshiaki Umezawa Role of APX/C3H in the biosynthesis of grass-specific lignin monomers (To be submitted)
• Ji Pingping, Osama Ahmed Afifi, Senri Yamamoto, Keishi Osakabe, Yuriko Osakabe, Toshiaki Umezawa, Yuki Tobimatsu. Structural Features of Guaiacyl-enriched Lignin Polymers Produced in Rice and Arabidopsis Mutants Deficient in Syringyl Lignin Biosynthesis (To be Submitted)
• Senri Yamamoto, Osama Ahmed Afifi, Pui Ying Lam, Yuri Takeda-Kimura, Yuriko Osakabe, Keishi Osakabe, Laura E. Bartley, Toshiaki Umezawa, Yuki Tobimatsu. Lignocellulose characterization of rice mutants deficient in aldehyde dehydrogenases involved in the biosynthesis of cell wall cross-linking ferulate (To be submitted)
• Senri Yamamoto, Osama Ahmed Afifi, Ryosuke Kusumi, Kayoko Kobayashi, Toshiaki Umezawa, Yuki Tobimatsu. Cell wall supramolecular structure analysis of rice transgenic plants with modified ferulic acid cross-linking structure and lignin aromatic nucleus composition. (To Be submitted)
• Supatmi, Pui Ying Lam, Osama Ahmed Afifi, Yuriko Osakabe, Keishi Osakabe, Toshiaki Umezawa, Yuki Tobimatsu Roles of CINNAMATE 4-HYDROXYLASE in grass lignin biosynthesis as studied with genome-edited rice mutants (To be submitted)
• OAGAA Afifi Studies on the roles of 4-coumarate: coenzyme A ligase and 4-coumarate 3-hydroxylase in lignin biosynthesis in rice (Kyoto University)
• Krishanti N P, Tobimatsu Y, Afifi O A, Tarmadi D, Himmi S K, Toshiaki Umezawa; Wakako Ohmura Effects of dietary variation of lignocellulose and starch contents to larval development and survival of Nicobium hirtum (Journal of Wood Science,69:1–9)
• Afifi O A, Tobimatsu Y, Lam P Y, Martin A F, Miyamoto T, Osakabe Y, Osakabe K, Umezawa T. Genome-edited rice deficient in two 4-COUMARATE:COENZYME A LIGASE genes displays divers lignin alterations (Plant Physiology, 190:2155–2172, 2022)
• A A El-Ghamery, E A Abdel-Azeem, M A El-Kholy, O A Gamal El-Dein A comparative study for the cytological effect of ZnO nanoparticles and ZnO bulk on Allium cepa L (Nature and Science 14, 87-96)

Conference presentations and posters

2023

• ◯Ji Pingping，Osama Ahmed. Afifi，Senri Yamamoto，Yuriko Osakabe, Keishi Osakabe, Toshiaki Umezawa，Yuki Tobimatsu.“Elimination of syringyl lignin in grass and structural comparison of natural, engineered and synthetic guaiacyl lignins” Cell Wall Researchers Network 17th Regular Meeting (Sapporo) October 2023
• ◯ Senri Yamamoto,Lydia Pui Ying Lam,Yuri Takeda-Kiumura,Osama A. Afifi,Yuriko Kyube,Takashi Kyubu、Laura E. Bartley,Tomoya Imai、Yuriko Osakabe, Keishi Osakabe,Toshiaki Umezawa，Yuki Tobimatsu."Creation and characterization of genome-edited rice that suppressed ferulic acid-mediated cell wall crosslinking" Japan Agricultural Chemicals Society Meeting. October 2023 (oral presentation)

2022

• ◯Ji Pingping，Osama A. Afifi，Senri Yamamoto，Yuriko Osakabe, Keishi Osakabe, Toshiaki Umezawa，Yuki Tobimatsu. “Structural features of guaiacyl-enriched lignin polymers produced in rice and arabidopsis mutants deficient in syringyl lignin biosynthesis”. The 67th meeting of the Lignin Society of Japan 2022年11月（Oral presentation）
• ◯Osama Ahmed Afifi, Yuki Tobimatsu, Pui Ying Lam, Andri Fadillah Martin, Takuji Miyamoto, Yuriko Osakabe, Keishi Osakabe, Toshiaki Umezawa. “Distinct alterations of lignin biosynthesis in genome-edited rice mutants deficient in two 4-COUMARATE:COENZYME A LIGASE genes”. The 39th meeting of the Japanese Society for Plant Biotechnology. Septmber 2022（Oral presentation）
• ◯Senri Yamamoto,Yuki Tobimatsu, Osama Ahmed. Afifi, Pui Ying Lam,Toshiaki Umezawa. Analysis of lignocellulose properties of rice ALDH mutants to supress the formation of cell-wall-bound ferulic acid. The 72nd Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Society March 2022（Oral presentation）
• ◯ Senri Yamamoto,Yuki Tobimatsu, Osama Ahmed Afifi,Pui Ying Lam,Toshiaki Umezawa. “Analysis of lignocellulose properties of rice ALDH mutants that suppressed the formation of cell-wall-bound ferulic acid”. The 39th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Plant Biotechnology (Sakai) September 2022.（Oral presentation）
• ◯ Senri Yamamoto, Osama Ahmed Afifi，Ryosuke Kuzumi，Keiski Kobayashi，Toshiaki Umezawa，Yuki Tobimatsu. Analysis of cell wall supramolecular structure of recombinant rice strains with modified ferulic acid crosslinked structure and lignin aromatic nucleus composition. Cell Wall Researchers Network - The 16th Regular Meeting. October 2022.（Oral presentation）

2021

• ◯Osama Ahmed Afifi, Yuki Tobimatsu, Pui Ying Lam, Andri Fadillah Martin, Takuji Miyamoto, Yuriko Osakabe, Keishi Osakabe, Toshiaki Umezawa. Distinct alterations of lignin biosynthesis in genome-edited rice mutants deficient in two 4-COUMARATE:COENZYME A LIGASE genes. International conference on Cell Wall Biology. July 2021 (Poster presentation)
• ◯Osama Ahmed Afifi, Yuki Tobimatsu, Yuri Takeda-Kimura, Pui Ying Lam, Yuriko Osakabe, Keishi Osakabe, Toshiaki Umezawa. The role of cytosolic ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in lignin biosynthesis in rice. The 66th meeting of the Lignin Society of Japan. November 2021 (Oral presentation）

2020

• ◯Osama Ahmed Afifi, Yuki Tobimatsu, Pui Ying Lam, Andri Fadillah Martin, Takuji Miyamoto, Yuriko Osakabe, Keishi Osakabe, Toshiaki Umezawa. Distinct alterations of lignin biosynthesis in genome-edited rice mutants deficient in two 4-COUMARATE:COENZYME A LIGASE genes. The 65th meeting of the Lignin Society of Japan November 2020 (Oral presentation）
• 2017 9th International Conference for Basic Sciences, Egypt (Oral presentation)

Research skills

Synthetic Biology

• Gateway Recombinational Cloning
• Gibson assembly
• Mating-based split Ubiquitin Assay(mbSUS)
• Construction of Autofluorescence-tagged fusions
• Co-Immunoprecipitation

Molecular (gene) cloning/ DNA Manipulation

• Preparation of DNA constructs using Golden gate Assembly for CRISPR-Cas9
• Plant tissue culture (callus induction/regeneration)
• Use of restriction enzymes
• Inoculation, growth of competent cells, and plasmid amplification
• Agarose Gel Electrophoresis
• Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis
• Gel documentation
• Isolate and analyze DNA, RNA, and protein/qPCR
• Sequence genomes (Next generation)

Biochemistry/Genetics

• Purify and characterize enzymes
• Enzyme assays using recombinant and crude proteins
• UV/Vis Spectrophotometry

Anatomy and cell imaging

• Histochemistry
• Confocal microscopy, fluorescence microscopy
• Use of Ultramicrotomes: paraffine, resins

Other or relevant experience

• Statistical analysis (SPSS, Graphpad Prism, etc.)
• Data visualization and figures preparation (Adobe illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, etc.)