El-Brolosy obtained his Ph.D. from the Max Planck institute for Heart and Lung research in Bad Nauheim, Germany at the lab of Didier Stainier. Prior to that, he studied Pharmacy and Biotechnology at the German University in Cairo, Egypt for his Bachelors degree, and Molecular Biology at the International Max Planck Research School for his Master’s degree in Göttingen, Germany. El-Brolosy's research focuses on understanding how cells and organisms adapt to mutations. He is particularly interested in the phenomenon of genetic compensation. Mutations can lead to increased expression of functionally related genes that can compensate the mutated gene’s function. While this phenomenon is extremely beneficial for an organism to avoid developing defects, it complicates understanding gene function by scientists. During his Ph.D., he investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying genetic compensation and uncovered a novel role for mutant mRNA degradation in triggering the response, a study that was published early 2019 (El-Brolosy et al., Nature, 2019). The findings shall help scientists better design mutant animals to study gene function and have huge implications on our understanding of disease causing mutations. A public-digest summary of the study can be found here.