Abdallah M Hayar, PhD

Research Program: Cancer Biology Faculty Rank: Associate Professor Campus: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College: College of Medicine Department: Neuro & Devel Sci Faculty

Cancer Research Interest

• Disease Site Focus: Head and Neck
• Research Focus Area: Carcinogenesis, Treatment
• Type of Research: Translational
• Research Keywords: brain tumors, gliomas, chemo brain, chemotherapy, electrophysiology, imaging, patch clamp, brain slices.
• Research Interest Statement: I have been affiliated with the Center of Translational Neurosciences since my recruitment in the Dept. of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences at UAMS on 1/1/2006. I have established several collaborations with colleagues who need electrophysiology expertise for their scientific projects. My proficiency in high-end electrophysiological and imaging techniques is a great asset for investigating neuronal interactions at the cellular and network levels. I have been interested in cancer research after being awarded the Seeds of Science Award to develop research related to cancer. One of my goals is to determine if specific chemotherapeutic agents affect the physiological properties of neurons and whether they can induce neuronal damage by excessively increasing the spiking and synaptic activity of neurons leading to excitotoxicity (see Alexander et al. 2019). Recently, I have developed collaborations with UAMS cancer researchers like Dr. Robert Griffin, Dr. Antino Allen, Dr. Marjan Boerma and we published together articles related to the of chemotherapeutic drugs on the brain, the function of exosomes that are derived from glioma and the effect of radiation on the mouse heart. I am currently interested in a research project (UAMS CLARA IRB# 274264) which consists of performing electrophysiological and imaging experiments using live brain tissues sectioned from patients who are diagnosed with brain tumors or epilepsy. The brain tissues will be provided to me by neurosurgeons. The brain tissues will be sectioned into thin slices (~0.5 mm thickness) and placed in a recording chamber that is perfused with artificial cerebrospinal fluid which is saturated with oxygen. Glass electrodes will be guided using motorized micromanipulators and inserted into the brain tissue while visualizing the neurons using a microscope. Recordings will be performed from single cells or, if possible, from multiple cells simultaneously, in order to reduce the number of samples needed to achieve statistical significance. In some experiments, the brain slices will be incubated in a solution that has a fluorescent dye sensitive to voltage or to the concentration of calcium ions inside the cells. Images or video of the brain slices will be captured using a camera capable of acquiring 2000 frame per second. Drugs will be applied to the brain slices to test their effects on neurons and glial cells which are part of the tumor. This study will be conducted to advance our knowledge of the properties of neurons and glial cells from brain tumors, and to investigate if they exhibit aberrant electrical activity that can be mitigated by chemotherapeutic drugs or ion channels blockers.

Contact Information

• Email Address: AMHAYAR@UAMS.EDU
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Recent Publications

• Jung S, Harris N, Niyonshuti II, [et al., including Hayar AM]. Photothermal Response Induced by Nanocage-Coated Artificial Extracellular Matrix Promotes Neural Stem Cell Differentiation. Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland). 2021 11(5). PMID: 34064443. PMCID: PMC8147862.
• Sridharan V, Johnson KA, Landes RD, [et al., including Hayar A]. Sex-dependent effects of genetic upregulation of activated protein C on delayed effects of acute radiation exposure in the mouse heart, small intestine, and skin. PloS one. 2021 16(5):e0252142. PMID: 34029348. PMCID: PMC8143413.
• Carter G, Govindan RB, Brown G, [et al., including Hayar A]. Change in EEG Activity is Associated with a Decrease in Tinnitus Awareness after rTMS. Frontiers in neurology and neuroscience research. 2021 2. PMID: 34263262. PMCID: PMC8277104.
• Sharma KD, Schaal D, Kore RA, [et al., including Hayar A]. Glioma-derived exosomes drive the differentiation of neural stem cells to astrocytes. PloS one. 2020 15(7):e0234614. PMID: 32649728. PMCID: PMC7351166.