Profile
Ghizlane Bendriss is an Associate Professor of Biology at Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar. She leads the Foundation Biology course and the Neurophysiology section of the Physiology and Immunology course for second-year pre-medical students.
Her research focuses on how environmental factors — both microbial and sensory — shape brain development, cognition, and vulnerability to neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism, OCD, anxiety, and mood disorders. Her program investigates how the loss of microbial diversity contributes to neurodevelopmental vulnerability, and how targeted interventions can restore microbial resilience along the gut-brain axis. This work led to an innovation disclosure for a novel multi-strain probiotic formulation derived from fermented camel milk, currently under preclinical investigation.
In parallel, she investigates how the brain processes complex sensory stimuli — an area directly relevant to the sensory processing differences observed in neurodevelopmental conditions. Within this framework, she led Qatar’s first registered clinical trial investigating the effects of Arabic maqam music on brain activity and cognition (NCT04573101), and collaborated with Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar on virtual reality–based study of the impact of fluorescent light on sensory cognition in autism.
These programs integrate microbiology bench work, animal and human research, EEG, virtual reality, and sensory-based experiences, providing mentoring opportunities for students in research design, data interpretation, and interdisciplinary thinking. To date, she has mentored more than 44 students across undergraduate, Master, and PhD levels.
Beyond research and teaching, she contributes to science communication through TEDx talks, TV and radio interventions. She has led three editions of continuing professional development (CPD) courses aimed at healthcare professionals to raise awareness of the potential and applications of Music Therapy. She serves as a national reviewer for the National Committee for Qualifications and Academic Accreditation (NCQAA) and contributes to regional accreditation through the GCC Qualification and Accreditation Network. She holds editorial roles with several peer-reviewed journals including Frontiers in Microbiology and Medicina, MDPI.
Selected Publications
- Baroudi D, Shahbik L, Al Mannai R, Sher Khan A, Alladaboina S, Lasta S, Bendriss R, Bendriss G. Fermented camel milk as a functional food for gut microbiota modulation: Mechanisms, therapeutic promise, and research gaps. QScience Connect. 2025;2025(2):10.
- Scarpellini E, Abenavoli L, Falalyeyeva T, Kobyliak N, Bendriss G. Editorial: Fecal Microbiota Transplants: challenges in translating microbiome research to clinical applications. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2025;16:1704947.
- Al-Kuwari A, Al-Karbi H, Al-Khuzaei A, Baroudi D, Bendriss G. Beyond antibiotics: leveraging microbiome diversity to combat antimicrobial resistance. Frontiers in Microbiomes.2025;4:1618175.
- Bendriss G. The Neurosensory Booth: 16 Experiments in Perception and Neurophysiology of Senses for Premedical Studies. Doha, Qatar: Independently published; 2024.
- Bendriss G, MacDonald R, McVeigh C. Microbial Reprogramming in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders: A Review of Gut–Brain Communication and Emerging Evidence. Int J Mol Sci. 2023;24(15):11978.
- Yaghmour M, Sarada P, Roach S, Kadar I, Pesheva Z, Chaari A, Bendriss G. EEG correlates of Middle Eastern music improvisations on the Ney instrument. Front Psychol. 2021;12:701761.
- Laswi I, Shafiq A, Al-Ali D, Burney Z, Pillai K, Salameh M, Mhaimeed N, Zakaria D, Chaari A, Yousri NA, Bendriss G. A comparative pilot study of bacterial and fungal dysbiosis in neurodevelopmental disorders and gastrointestinal disorders. Microorganisms. 2021;9(4):741.
- Abdellatif B, McVeigh C, Bendriss G, Chaari A.The Promising Role of Probiotics in Managing the Altered Gut in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Int J Mol Sci. 2020;21(11):4159.