Mohammed Khaled

Department: Physics Department

Faculty: Faculty of Science

Specialization: Physics

Accurate Specialization: Theoretical Physics

Palestinian supervisor: ‪Prof. Dr. Abdallah Sayyed-Ahmad

Palestinian Supervisor affiliation: Physics Department/ Faculty of Science/ Birzeit University

Degree aims: PhD

FZJ Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Birgit Strodel

Center in Juelich: Structural Biochemistry, Institute for Biological Information Processes (IBI-7).

Affiliated University in Germany: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Department: Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry

Faculty: The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

The mission research period: 12/2019 - 12/2022

Title of Research: Markov state models for peptide aggregation: applications to beta-amyloid and polyglutamine peptides.

Research Purpose: Understanding the complex process of protein aggregation which is important due to it is functional roles and it is implication in a wide variety of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease. 

Main outputs/results:  The particular aims of the project are to understand the aggregation mechanism of beta-amyloid into a small oligomer and to understand the conformations and aggregation of huntingtin exon 1 protein fragments. In addition, development of molecular dynamic analysis tools based on Markov state models.

Main Impact: With no cure currently available for these diseases, there is a strong need to understand their molecular basis in detail. This knowledge is paramount for developing rational therapies against this disease.