Ammar Hanif

NOAA-EPP LMRCSC Doctoral Graduate
Ph.D., Marine, Estuarine & Environmental Science, Graduated
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science-IMET

Ammar is a doctoral graduate of the Marine Estuarine Environmental Science program under the supervision of Rose Jagus, Ph.D., at the University of Maryland Center of Environmental Science – Institute of Marine & Environmental Technology. His research focused on using Molecular techniques and bioinformatics as tools to study the marine environment and answer ecological questions. Ammar studied the diet and microbiome of menhaden and other marine invertebrates. His expertise includes extracting DNA from difficult samples, marine and estuarine ecology, handling large datasets, bioinformatics, and analyzing high-throughput sequencing results of microbial community using statistical methods. Ammar was a Knauss Fellow from January 2018 to February 2019. He now works as a Natural Resource Biologist in the Department of Natural Resources at the Cooperative Oxford Lab in Maryland.

NERTO Project Title:  Temporal Study of Diet and Microbiome of Mussels Collected from Lake Michigan

NOAA Mentor: Dr. Ed Johnson, NOAA Headquarters, Silver Spring, MD

Academic Advisor: Dr. Rosemary Jagus

Publications/Presentations

  1. Hanif, A. (2018).  Insights into the gut microbiome and diet of Atlantic menhaden. Presented at the American Fisheries Society meeting, Atlantic City, NJ, 2018.
  2. Hanif, A. & Johnson, E., (2018), Assessing temporal changes of invasive dreissenid mussels’ microbial community collected from Lake Michigan. Presented at the Society of Environmental Toxicology, Sacramento, CA.
  3. Hanif, A,. Smith, S., White, J., Jagus, R., Place, A. (2016). Nature’s ultimate environmental sampler: a look at the stomach content of Gulf menhaden using molecular signatures. Presented at the LMRCSC Friday student seminar series.
  4. Hanif, A., Smith, S., White, J., Jagus, R., Place, A. (2016). Nature’s ultimate environmental sampler: a look at the stomach contents of Gulf menhaden using molecular signatures. Presented at the NOAA Educational Partnership Program 8th Biennial Education and Science Forum. CUNY, NY. August
  5. Hanif, A., Jagus, R., Place, A. (2014). Characterizing the gut microbiome of two menhaden species using metabarcoding. Presented at the NOAA Educational Partnership Program 7th Biennial Education and Science Forum. Presented at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore Princess Anne, MD.
  6. Hanif, A. W., Dyson, W. D., Bowers, H. A., Pitula, J. S., Messick, G. A., Jagus, R., & Schott, E. J. (2013). Variation in spatial and temporal incidence of the crustacean pathogen Hematodinium perezi in environmental samples from Atlantic Coastal Bays. Aquatic biosystems, 9(1).
  7. Kapareiko, D, Lim, H. J., Schott, E. J., Hanif, A. (2011). Isolation and evaluation of new, probiotic bacteria for use in shellfish hatcheries. II. Effects of a Vibrio sp. probiotic candidate upon survival of oyster larvae (Crassostrea virginica) in pilot-scale trials. Journal of Shellfish research. 30(3):617-625.
  8. Lim, H. J., Kapareiko, D., Schott, E. J., Hanif, A., and Wikfors, G. H. (2011). Isolation and evaluation of new, probiotic bacteria for use in shellfish hatcheries: I. Isolation and screening for bioactivity. Journal of Shellfish Research. 30(3):609-615.
  9. Bowers, H.A., Messick, G.A., Hanif, A., Jagus, R., Carrion, L., Zmora, O., Schott, E.J. (2010). Physicochemical properties of double-stranded RNA used to discover a reo-like virus from blue crab Callinectes sapidus. Disease of Aquatic Organisms, 93: 17-29
  10. Hanif, A., Ukaegbu, O., Rash, J., McIntosh, D., Kapareiko, D., Wikfors, G., Schott, E., Schreier, H., (2010) Biochemical and Molecular Analysis of a Probiotic Bacterial Strain Used in Protecting Oyster Larvae from Pathogenic Bacteria in Hatchery Culture. Presented at the American Fisheries Society Subchapter Symposium- LMRCSC Research Weekend, Princess Anne, MD
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