Host-Microbe
Interactions Group
Sahar
El Aidy, PhD
Bio
Sahar El Aidy is experienced in the gut microbiota, its metabolic activity, and interactions with the host immune, metabolic, and neurological functions. Her group focuses on how gut microbiota sense and metabolize ingested compounds that are part of our diet and the impact of these bacterial metabolites on the microbial metabolic interaction as well as on the (neuro-immune) response within the gut with a particular focus on gut motility. Another research line investigates the effect of gut microbiota on the effectiveness of drug treatment. Sahar published over 50 papers and obtained over 2M Euros in funding. Her laboratory consists of 1 Postdoc, 5 PhD students, 4 master students, and 1 technician. She has over 5000 citations and an H-index of 30 (Google Scholar). In recognition of her achievements, she was appointed at the Young Academy Groningen (YAG), and a Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Group and has been a member of the Young Science and Engineering Network (YSEN). In 2021, Sahar was awarded the Athena Award for female researchers that stand out, from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
Education
Sahar El Aidy has a BSc. in pharmaceutical sciences, Alexandria university (Alexandria, Egypt). She then received a NUFFIC scholarship to study her masters in cellular and molecular Biotechnology at Wageningen University (Wageningen, The Netherlands). Later, she did her PhD at the laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, where she successfully deciphered detailed molecular processes underlying the dynamic interplay of the gut microbiota and host that drives establishment of homeostasis. With the aim to obtain training-through-research to further develop her academic qualifications, she was successfully recruited to the Cryan Laboratory, a renowned world-leading laboratory in microbe-gut-brain interactions within the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Center, University College Cork (Cork, Ireland). Afterwards, she was appointed as a specialist in host-microbe interactions at the Nestle Research Centre (Lausanne, Switzerland) where she worked on the effect of human milk oligosaccharides on the gut microbiota population in human infants. Sahar joined the University of groningen as a Rosalind Franklin Fellow and Tenure Track Assistant Professor.
Employment
Sahar El Aidy is Associate Professor and Chair of Host-Microbe Metabolic Interactions in the Groningen Bimolecular and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen.

Host-microbe Interactions group
Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB)
​University of Groningen
Nijenborg 7, 9747 AG Groningen
The Netherlands