Fatimah Sefrji

Alumni and Former Staff

​Ph.D. Student

Research Interests

​Microorganisms are diverse and one of the most significance source of industrially and commercially important molecules. Biotechnological industries appear to have exhausted what the limited number of cultivable species isolated so far have to offer. However, the current limited knowledge of their physiology precludes us devising effective cultivation strategies and avoids us expand the collection of cultivable microbial strains. The novel strategies of cultivation aimed at overcoming the limitations of the traditional microbiological techniques, pose as promising tools to isolate novel microbes harbouring unknown and potentially valuable metabolites. Moreover the venture into new and/or yet underexplored environments can also contribute at increasing the recovery of novel microbial species. The mangrove ecosystem represents one of the world's most dynamic environments where fluctuations in salinity and tidal gradients are driving forces for metabolic adaptations, which could lead to the production of valuable metabolites. 

Education

  • ​M.Sc., Industrial and commerical biotechnology, Newcastle University, United Kingdom, 2012
  • B.Sc., Microbiology, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia, 2007 

Professional Profile

  • ​2014 - Now : Ph.D., Bioscience, KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
  • 2008-2018: Lecturer, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia 

KAUST Affiliations

  • ​Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
  • Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Divison

Research Interests Keywords

​Microbiology Microbial biotechnology and novel isolation methods