Safa Salim

Master's Student

Safa Salim

Master's Student

Entity

Qatar Biomedical Research Institute

Division

Neurological Disorders Research Center

Biography

Safa Salim graduated with a major in Biological Sciences and minor in Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University Qatar in 2017. She joined the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program in Hamad Bin Khalifa University to obtain her Masters and PhD.

During her undergraduate studies, Safa was involved in several research projects, which include: examining gene expression in development and regeneration of the sea star Patiria Miniata at Mellon Institute, Pittsburgh, USA; analyzing the role of DNAJB3/HSP-40 co-chaperone in regulating glucose homeostasis and insulin signaling at QBRI; comparing the protein profiles of Arthrobacter Phage (Sand Phage) and Mycobacterium Smegmatis Phage (Soil Phage) at Carnegie Mellon University Qatar; and expressing, purifying, and characterizing the transcription factors Sox7 and Sox17 HMG domain and its mutant at QBRI.

 


Minoring in Psychology and taking several courses that highlighted the complexity of the brain fostered a deep interest in neurological disorders for Safa. She is specifically interested in working on neurodegenerative diseases such as a-synucleinopathies due to their challenging nature and lack of effective treatments. She aims to perform translational research on such disorders with the aspiration to develop efficient therapies.

  • Currently
  • Safa is working on her thesis project with Dr. Omar El-Agnaf; the project focuses on engineering antibodies for diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in neurodegenerative diseases.
  • It is specifically aimed at developing immunotherapy for the a-synucleinopathies wherein aggregation of the protein a-synuclein seems to cause neurodegeneration.
  • This involves constructing
  • expressing
  • purifying
  • and characterizing conformation specific antibodies against a-synuclein.