Dr Sarah Abi Gerges PhD

Dr Sarah Abi Gerges

Dubai Campus
Assistant Professor

Dr Sarah Abi Gerges is an Assistant Professor in Neuroscience with expertise in electrophysiology, optogenetics, and behavioural neuroscience. Her work involved animal models, including surgical and viral techniques, to study neural mechanisms underlying behaviour. She now focuses on human cognition and behaviour

Qualifications

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • PGCert in Higher Education, University of Birmingham, 2024
  • PhD in Brain, Cognition, Behavior, Sorbonne University, 2020
  • Msc in Neuroscience and Cell Signalling, Paris-Saclay University, 2016
  • Bsc in Life Sciences, Lebanese University, 2014

Biography

Dr. Sarah Abi Gerges is an Assistant Professor in Neuroscience at the University of Birmingham Dubai.

She completed her PhD in Neuroscience at Sorbonne University, where she trained in electrophysiology, with a particular focus on NMDA receptors. During this time, she worked closely with animal models, using techniques such as optogenetics, surgical approaches with viral injections, and behavioural experiments to identify and characterise a previously unknown type of NMDA receptor in the brain.

After her PhD, she moved into clinical research as a Clinical Research Associate at ICON plc in Paris, working on trials in neurology and oncology.

She later transitioned into academia, where her focus shifted towards human behaviour. Alongside her research, she teaches across undergraduate neuroscience and psychology modules, including Introduction to Psychobiology, Neural Basis of Vision and Action, and the Neurobiology of Mental Illness.

Teaching

  • Introduction to Psychobiology
  • Neural Basis of Vision and Action
  • Neurobiology of Mental Illness

Research

She supervises UG students in various areas of Psychology and Neuroscience Research.

Publications