Wissam H. Faour, PhD, EMBA

Associate Professor
Pharmacology Discipline Coordinator
Coordinator of the Biomedical Research Labs

Dr. Faour earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Montreal. He further honed his expertise through postdoctoral studies in cellular and molecular medicine at the Kidney Research Center (KRC) within the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Ottawa. Recently, Dr. Faour augmented his academic credentials by obtaining an Executive MBA degree from the Adnan Kassar School of Business at LAU.

Among his notable achievements, Dr. Faour has been honored with the prestigious Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training (KRESCENT) fellowship. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Clinical Research, while also contributing as an Editorial Board Member for the European Journal of Pharmacology and an Advisory Board Member for Inflammation Research.

Dr. Faour’s research pursuits focus on unraveling the intricacies of inflammation across various disease models, encompassing both in vitro studies involving podocytes and stem cells, as well as in vivo investigations utilizing diabetic and obese animal models alongside bioinformatics tools. Additionally, his work entails evaluating the pharmacological properties of pure compounds, whether synthesized or isolated from plants.

Students eager to engage in Dr. Faour’s research endeavors can anticipate exposure to a diverse array of cell and molecular biology techniques, including cell culture, western blotting, RT-PCR, ELISA, flow cytometry, pathology analysis, and immunostaining protocols.

1. Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells and Their Interplay with Th-17 Cell Response Pathway. Najar M, Rahmani S, Faour WH, Alsabri SG, Lombard CA, Fayyad-Kazan H, Sokal EM, Merimi M, Fahmi H. Cells. 2024 Jan 16;13(2):169. doi: 10.3390/cells13020169
2. Ghrelin hormone a new molecular modulator between obesity and glomerular damage Maroun Ibrahim , Lynn Khalife , Rania Abdel-Latif , Wissam H Faour Mol Biol Rep. 2023 Dec;50(12):10525-10533. doi: 10.1007/s11033-023-08866-8
3. Analysis of G-Quadruplex Forming Sequences in Podocytes-Marker Genes and Their Potential Roles in Inherited Glomerular Diseases. Mona Saad, Cybel Mehawej, Wissam H. Faour. Heliyon Volume 9, Issue 9, September 2023, e20233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20233
4. G-quadruplex forming sequences in the genes coding for cytochrome P450 enzymes and their potential roles in drug metabolism. Mona Saad, Rongxin Zhang , Anne Cucchiarini, Cybel Mehawej, Jean-Louis Mergny, Mohamad Mroueh, Wissam H Faour. Biochimie 2023 Sep 1;S0300-9084(23)00205-5. doi: 10.1016/j.biochi.2023.08.014
5. SARS-CoV-2-mediated liver injury: pathophysiology and mechanisms of disease. Choaib A, Issa E, El Choueiry F, Eldin JN, Shbaklo K, Alhajj M, Sawaya RT, Assi G, Nader M, Chatila R, Faour WH. Inflamm Res. 2023 Feb;72(2):301-312.
6. New complementary python codes to locate Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and Overlapping G-Quadruplex Sequences (G4s). Saad M, Shebaby M, Mehawej C, Faour W. MethodsX. 2022 Oct 6;9:101875. doi: 10.1016/j.mex.2022.101875. eCollection 2022
7. Synthesis, characterization, antibacterial and antifungal activities evaluation of Cadmium(II), Zinc(II) and Copper(II) complexes with vanillin-4-methylthiosemicarbazone and 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde-4-methylthiosemicarbazone. Amani Jaafar, Najwa Mansour, Adeline Fix-Tailler, Magali Allain, Wissam H Faour, Wassim N Shebaby, Sima Tokajian, Abdelkrim El-Ghayoury, Daoud Naoufal, Gérald Larcher, Ghassan Ibrahim. ChemistrySelect, 2022, 7(10), e202104497
8. Mechanisms of COVID-19-induced kidney injury and current pharmacotherapies. Faour WH, Choaib A, Issa E, Choueiry FE, Shbaklo K, Alhajj M, Sawaya RT, Harhous Z, Alefishat E, Nader M. Inflamm Res. 2022 Jan;71(1):39-56. doi: 10.1007/s00011-021-01520-8. Epub 2021 Nov 21
9. In Vitro Cellular and Molecular Interplay between Human Foreskin-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells and the Th17 Cell Pathway. Najar M, Merimi M, Faour WH, Lombard CA, Moussa Agha D, Ouhaddi Y, Sokal EM, Lagneaux L, Fahmi H. Pharmaceutics. 2021 Oct 19;13(10):1736. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13101736.

View Dr. Faour’s publications on PubMed.

Professional and Research Interests

• Inflammopharmacology: Anti-inflammatory evaluation of pure chemical compounds either synthesized or isolated from plants.
• Molecular and cellular biology of kidney podocytes.
  • Role of phosphatases in podocyte survival.
  • Role of ghrelin hormone in mediating podocyte injury and cell death.
  • Hydrogels as a 2D-3D podocyte culture system.
• Immunobiology of stem cells.
• Identification of the immunobiological effect of stem cells on immune and cancer cells (e.g. T-cells).
• Use of mesenchymal stem cells and biogels as a tool to regenerate damaged tissues (e.g. muscle and cartilage).

Education and Training

• Ph.D in Molecular Biology, University of Montreal, Canada
• Postdoctoral Studies in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Canada
• EMBA, LAU Adnan Kassar School of Business

Professional Memberships, Grants and Organizations

• Ordre des Chimistes du Québec
• American College of Clinical Pharmacology
• LAU-PIRF grant

Keywords