Dr. Souad El Ouakfaoui
Current research and/or projects
Risk Assessment and risk management of new and existing living organisms under Parts 5 and 6 of the CEPA,1999 and the New Substances Notification Regulations (Organisms); Review of environmental assessments of Food and Drug Act substances.
Supervision of a biotechnology evaluation team under New Substances Program.
Coordination of the joint EC and HC screening assessment of microorganisms listed on the Domestic Substances List , under section 74 of CEPA 1999.
Identification of scientific knowledge gaps, tools and methods to support risk assessment and management of living organisms (microorganisms and higher organisms).
Contribution to inter-departmental activities for recommendations on biotechnology regulatory issues.
Initiation of the preparation of various guidance documents on risk assessment of biotechnology products.
Professional activities / interests
Contribution to research projects on gene expression in higher organisms (plants)
Member of Community of Practice on Consultations and of the Community of Federal Regulators (CFR)
Member of Toastmasters International
Practioner of Tools for Engagement
Education and awards
Ph.D. (Molecular Biology) Laval University, Québec, Québec.
Canadian International Development Agency Fellowship (Bourse de la Francophonie) for Ph.D.
Recognition certificate for leadership - First Canadian Regulatory System for Biotechnology Forum , 2007
Key publications
Brian Miki, Ashraf Abdeen, Yuzuki Manabe, Souad El Ouakfaoui, Douglas A Johnson, Loreta Gudynaite-Savitch, Ming Hu and Phil MacDonald. Selectable Marker Genes: Effects on the Transcriptomes of Plants and Interactions with Cotransforming Genes. Plant Transformation Technologies, editor: C Neal Stewart, Jr.; Alisher Touraev; Vitaly Citovsky; Tzvi Tzfira, publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing. 2010.
El Ouakfaoui S, Schnell J, Abdeen A, Colville A, Labbé H, Han S, Baum B, Laberge S, Miki B: Control of somatic embryogenesis and embryo development by AP2 transcription factors. Plant Mol Biol; 2010 Nov;74(4-5):313-26
El Ouakfaoui Souad and Brian Miki. 2005. Transcriptome stability of transgenic Arabidopsis. Plant Journal. 41:791-800.
Kathrina Yambao, Caroline Piché, and Souad El Ouakfaoui. 2008. Streamlining the Notification Process for Naturally Occurring Micro-organisms with a Low Hazard Potential under the New Substances Notifications Regulations (Organisms) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology, Chicago, Illinois, USA. http://www.ec.gc.ca/Substances/nsb/eng/a200707_e.shtml