Samira Mubareka

Last updated
Samira Mubareka
Alma mater Dalhousie University (MD)
McGill University (Residency)
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Scientific career
Institutions Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
University of Toronto
Website Lab Website

Samira Mubareka (born 1972) is a Canadian microbiologist who is a clinical scientist at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Her research considers the influenza virus, viral transmission and aerobiology. During the COVID-19 pandemic Mubareka isolated the genome of Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in an effort to improve detection and diagnostics. She served as a member of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.

Contents

Early life and education

Mubareka was born to Kathy Elizabeth Cannon and Aboud Mubareka in Göttingen, Germany. [1] Her father was born in Iraq and attended the University of Baghdad and University of Göttingen. [1] Her mother attended the University of Mainz. [1] She and her family immigrated to northwestern New Brunswick when she was two. [2] Mubareka herself was an undergraduate student at the University of New Brunswick. She eventually studied medicine at Dalhousie University, which she graduated in 1999. [3] She specialised in internal medicine at McGill University, before moving to the University of Manitoba to train in infectious diseases. [3] After completing her registrar training, Mubareka moved to Mount Sinai Hospital where she worked in the laboratory of Peter Palese. [4]

Research and career

Mubareka is a Clinical Scientist at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto and on the faculty at the University of Toronto. [3] She works as lead of infectious diseases at the Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Diseases, [5] and chair of the Royal Society of Canada's Working Group on One Health. [6]

Her research considers the development of mammalian model to describe the transmission of respiratory disease and the influenza virus. [7] She is interested in the co-pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus and its role in influenza virus transmission. [8] She looks to apply her understanding of viral transmission to the development of protective strategies. [9] By analysing data from a five-year period in Toronto, Mubareka identified that the virus struggles to survive in more humid environments. [10] Several of Mubareka's publications on viral transmission were edited by American virologist Ralph S. Baric of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [11] [12]

COVID-19

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mubareka worked with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to better inform the public about the disease. [13] She created a series of videos that described the biology and symptoms of COVID-19. In mid February 2020 Mubareka was awarded a research grant from the McLaughlin Centre to identify the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2. [14] [15] [16] Genomic data can help to better diagnose COVID-19, including how much of the virus is shed by people who are infected. [15] Mubareka established the Toronto 2019-nCoV Working Group with Allison McGeer and Robert Kozak. [15] On March 10, 2020, Mubareka participated in the convening of the Chief Science Advisor of Canada's COVID-19 Expert Panel. [17]

By mid March 2020, Mubareka and colleagues had successfully isolated SARS-CoV-2, providing researchers access to the genetic sequence for the development of new therapies and vaccines. The virus was isolated from patients at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, the first hospital in Canada to treat COVID-19 patients. She succeeded in isolating the virus by getting it to reproduce in genetically engineered animal cells, then using whole genome sequencing to deduce the genome. [18] [19] [20] [21] The isolated virus can be used to ensure tests work effectively, as well as being used to analyse the suitability of antiviral drugs.

Mubareka helped the World Health Organization to write guidelines on the clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection with an expectant diagnosis of COVID-19. [22] The guidelines include close monitoring, the provision of oxygen therapy and the determination of chronic therapies and co-infections. [22] She served as a founding member of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table upon its creation in July 2020 until its dissolution in September 2022. [23] [24]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epidemic</span> Rapid spread of disease affecting a large number of people in a short time

An epidemic is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infections, an attack rate in excess of 15 cases per 100,000 people for two consecutive weeks is considered an epidemic.

<i>Influenza A virus</i> Species of virus

Influenza A virus (IAV) is a pathogen that causes the flu in birds and some mammals, including humans. It is an RNA virus whose subtypes have been isolated from wild birds. Occasionally, it is transmitted from wild to domestic birds, and this may cause severe disease, outbreaks, or human influenza pandemics.

<i>Orthomyxoviridae</i> Family of RNA viruses including the influenza viruses

Orthomyxoviridae is a family of negative-sense RNA viruses. It includes seven genera: Alphainfluenzavirus, Betainfluenzavirus, Gammainfluenzavirus, Deltainfluenzavirus, Isavirus, Thogotovirus, and Quaranjavirus. The first four genera contain viruses that cause influenza in birds and mammals, including humans. Isaviruses infect salmon; the thogotoviruses are arboviruses, infecting vertebrates and invertebrates. The Quaranjaviruses are also arboviruses, infecting vertebrates (birds) and invertebrates (arthropods).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Influenza A virus subtype H5N1</span> Subtype of influenza A virus

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 (A/H5N1) is a subtype of the influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other species. A bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type A of subtype H5N1, is the highly pathogenic causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as avian influenza. It is enzootic in many bird populations, especially in Southeast Asia. One strain of HPAI A(H5N1) is spreading globally after first appearing in Asia. It is epizootic and panzootic, killing tens of millions of birds and spurring the culling of hundreds of millions of others to stem its spread. Many references to "bird flu" and H5N1 in the popular media refer to this strain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social distancing</span> Infection control technique by keeping a distance from each other

In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious disease by maintaining a physical distance between people and reducing the number of times people come into close contact with each other. It usually involves keeping a certain distance from others and avoiding gathering together in large groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pandemic H1N1/09 virus</span> Virus responsible for the 2009 swine flu pandemic

The pandemic H1N1/09 virus is a swine origin influenza A virus subtype H1N1 strain that was responsible for the 2009 swine flu pandemic. This strain is often called swine flu by the public media. For other names, see the Nomenclature section below.

Adolfo García-Sastre,(born in Burgos, 10 October 1964) is a Spanish professor of Medicine and Microbiology and co-director of the Global Health & Emerging Pathogens Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. His research into the biology of influenza viruses has been at the forefront of medical advances in epidemiology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Palese</span> American microbiologist and virologist

Peter Palese is a United States microbiologist, researcher, inventor and the Horace W. Goldsmith Professor in the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and an expert in the field of RNA viruses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akiko Iwasaki</span> Immunobiologist

Akiko Iwasaki is a Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University. She is also a principal investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research interests include innate immunity, autophagy, inflammasomes, sexually transmitted infections, herpes simplex virus, human papillomavirus, respiratory virus infections, influenza infection, T cell immunity, commensal bacteria, COVID-19 and Long COVID.

Julia Rose Gog is a British mathematician and professor of mathematical biology in the faculty of mathematics at the University of Cambridge. She is also a David N. Moore fellow, director of studies in mathematics at Queens' College, Cambridge and a member of both the Cambridge immunology network and the infectious diseases interdisciplinary research centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward C. Holmes</span> British biologist (born 1965)

Edward Charles Holmes is a British evolutionary biologist and virologist. Since 2012, he has been a fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in Australia and professor at the University of Sydney. He was an honorary visiting professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, from 2019-2021.

Maria DeJoseph Van Kerkhove is an American infectious disease epidemiologist. With a background in high-threat pathogens, Van Kerkhove specializes in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and is based in the Health Emergencies Program at the World Health Organization (WHO). She is the technical lead of COVID-19 response and the head of emerging diseases and zoonosis unit at WHO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonnie Henry</span> Canadian public health officer

Bonnie J. Fraser Henry is a Canadian physician and public servant who has been the provincial health officer at the British Columbia Ministry of Health since 2014. Henry is also a clinical associate professor at the University of British Columbia. She is a specialist in public health and preventive medicine, and is a family doctor. In her role as provincial health officer, Henry notably led the response to COVID-19 in British Columbia (BC).

Allison Joan McGeer is a Canadian infectious disease specialist in the Sinai Health System, and a professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. She also appointed at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a Senior Clinician Scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and is a partner of the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases. McGeer has led investigations into the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in Toronto and worked alongside Donald Low. During the COVID-19 pandemic, McGeer has studied how SARS-CoV-2 survives in the air and has served on several provincial committees advising aspects of the Government of Ontario's pandemic response.

Eleni Nastouli is a Greek clinical virologist who works at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) and Great Ormond Street Hospital. At UCLH, Nastouli leads the Advanced Pathogen Diagnostics Unit, where she develops technologies for genome sequencing as well as studying how viruses are transmitted around hospitals. During the COVID-19 pandemic Nastouli led an investigation into infection rates amongst healthcare workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Prystajecky</span> Canadian biologist

Natalie Anne Prystajecky a Canadian biologist and the Environmental Microbiology program at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory. She holds a Clinical Assistant Professor position at the University of British Columbia. During the COVID-19 pandemic Prystajecky was involved with the development COVID-19 testing capabilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public health mitigation of COVID-19</span> Measures to halt the spread of the respiratory disease among populations

Part of managing an infectious disease outbreak is trying to delay and decrease the epidemic peak, known as flattening the epidemic curve. This decreases the risk of health services being overwhelmed and provides more time for vaccines and treatments to be developed. Non-pharmaceutical interventions that may manage the outbreak include personal preventive measures such as hand hygiene, wearing face masks, and self-quarantine; community measures aimed at physical distancing such as closing schools and cancelling mass gathering events; community engagement to encourage acceptance and participation in such interventions; as well as environmental measures such surface cleaning. It has also been suggested that improving ventilation and managing exposure duration can reduce transmission.

Gain-of-function research is medical research that genetically alters an organism in a way that may enhance the biological functions of gene products. This may include an altered pathogenesis, transmissibility, or host range, i.e., the types of hosts that a microorganism can infect. This research is intended to reveal targets to better predict emerging infectious diseases and to develop vaccines and therapeutics. For example, influenza B can infect only humans and harbor seals. Introducing a mutation that would allow influenza B to infect rabbits in a controlled laboratory situation would be considered a gain-of-function experiment, as the virus did not previously have that function. That type of experiment could then help reveal which parts of the virus's genome correspond to the species that it can infect, enabling the creation of antiviral medicines which block this function.

Nicole M. Bouvier is an American physician who is Professor of Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her research considers the environmental and viral factors that impact respiratory transmission of influenza viruses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endemic COVID-19</span> Theoretical future stage of COVID-19

COVID-19 is predicted to become an endemic disease by many experts. The observed behavior of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, suggests it is unlikely it will die out, and the lack of a COVID-19 vaccine that provides long-lasting immunity against infection means it cannot immediately be eradicated; thus, a future transition to an endemic phase appears probable. In an endemic phase, people would continue to become infected and ill, but in relatively stable numbers. Such a transition may take years or decades. Precisely what would constitute an endemic phase is contested.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Nelson County Virginia Heritage 1807-2000. S. E. Grose.
  2. ↑ "Humans of LMP: Samira Mubareka". University of Toronto . 2021-08-03. Archived from the original on 2022-09-11. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
  3. 1 2 3 "Samira Mubarek - Sunnybrook Research Institute". sunnybrook.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  4. ↑ "Faculty Research Database". Archived from the original on 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  5. ↑ "Dr. Samira Mubareka". Centre for Research Expertise in Occupational Diseases. Archived from the original on 2022-09-10. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
  6. ↑ "The Working Group on One Health". The Royal Society of Canada . Archived from the original on 2022-01-07. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
  7. ↑ Rappuoli, Rino; Giudice, Giuseppe Del (2008-10-04). Influenza Vaccines for the Future. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   978-3-7643-8371-8.
  8. ↑ Campigotto, Aaron; Simor, Andrew E.; McGeer, Allison; Kiss, Alexander; Mubareka, Samira (2018-10-01). "Nasal colonization with Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus among hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza". Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease. 92 (2): 133–135. doi:10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2018.05.007. ISSN   0732-8893. PMID   29884564. S2CID   46998056.
  9. ↑ Jones, Kristie (2010-11-01). "Keeping infectious microbes in check". Hospital News. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  10. ↑ "Researchers look at humidity as a weapon in the fight against airborne viruses". Coast Mountain News. 2020-04-05. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  11. ↑ Steel, John; Lowen, Anice C.; Mubareka, Samira; Palese, Peter (2009-01-02). Baric, Ralph S. (ed.). "Transmission of Influenza Virus in a Mammalian Host Is Increased by PB2 Amino Acids 627K or 627E/701N". PLOS Pathogens. 5 (1): e1000252. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000252. ISSN   1553-7374. PMC   2603332 . PMID   19119420.
  12. ↑ Lowen, Anice C; Mubareka, Samira; Steel, John; Palese, Peter (2007-10-19). Baric, Ralph S (ed.). "Influenza Virus Transmission Is Dependent on Relative Humidity and Temperature". PLOS Pathogens. 3 (10): 1470–1476. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.0030151. ISSN   1553-7374. PMC   2034399 . PMID   17953482.
  13. ↑ News; Canada (2020-01-30). "Coronavirus symptoms: What does being infected look like? | National Post" . Retrieved 2020-04-07.{{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  14. ↑ Dobranowski, Alexis (2020-03-06). "Dr. Samira Mubareka: a leading expert in Sunnybrook's response to COVID-19". Your Health Matters. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  15. 1 2 3 "Grant awarded to develop whole genome sequencing for COVID-19 - Sunnybrook Research Institute". sunnybrook.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  16. ↑ Research, Canadian Institutes of Health (2020-03-06). "Government of Canada invests $27M in coronavirus research – Details of the funded projects". gcnws. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  17. ↑ "COVID-19 Expert Panel". Government of Canada . Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
  18. ↑ "U of T and McMaster researchers at Sunnybrook Hospital isolate virus behind COVID-19". University of Toronto News. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  19. ↑ "Research team has isolated the COVID-19 virus - Sunnybrook Research Institute". sunnybrook.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  20. ↑ "'We're learning more every day': How U of T is leading efforts to understand – and respond to – COVID-19". University of Toronto News. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  21. ↑ "U of T and Sunnybrook virologists work on tools to combat coronavirus outbreak". University of Toronto News. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  22. 1 2 "Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection when COVID-19 is suspected". www.who.int. Archived from the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  23. ↑ "About Us". Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table . Archived from the original on 2020-10-21. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  24. ↑ "Samira Mubareka". Women in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. Archived from the original on 2022-09-10. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
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