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Interview With Dr. Mohamed Salama—2014/2015 PMDF Grant Award Winner

By Mary Ann Chapman, Ph.D. Summer, 2015


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What triggers nerve cell death in Parkinson’s disease? That is the question Dr. Mohamed Salama is investigating in his laboratory at Medical Experimental Research Center (MERC) of Mansoura University in Egypt. Dr. Salama was one of the 2014/2015 PMDF grant award winners, and I asked him, via e-mail, to tell us a little bit about his research and background.

How did you get interested in movement disorder research?

I began my research journey in movement disorders when I was awarded a scholarship to study in Marburg, Germany. My supervisor was Professor Guenter Hoeglinger and our research focused on the underlying brain problems in Parkinson’s disease. Upon returning to Egypt, I was awarded a big grant to work jointly with Professor Hoeglinger. Our goal was to develop a model to study the interplay between environment and genes in the development of Parkinson’s disease.

How would you describe your research group in Egypt?

Following my return to Egypt, I realized that few people were interested in studying neuroscience. I therefore established the first Experimental Neurology Unit in Egypt, where I recruited students and began including them in research projects. I worked with several brilliant undergraduates and we were able to publish our findings in international journals and to present at professional conferences. Our research on strategies that protect nerve cells from dying in Parkinson’s disease received several awards, including the best research in Egypt for the year 2013, the best presentation in neurology at the International Student Congress of Medical Sciences (ISCOMS) for 2012, and the Misr El-Kheir Foundation (MEK) international publications award for 2013. Following our success, many students have become interested in experimental neurology and our program has grown.

What aspect of your research are you most excited about?

I believe that unraveling the triggers and underlying causes of movement disorders are the first steps to identifying effective treatments. That is what I am doing—trying to uncover the actual triggers that lead to movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease. I am particularly interested in how the interactions between the environment and genes affect the disease process.

How will the PMDF grant money help you accomplish your research goals?

The PMDF grant will help support the first phase of our study, which involves a protein known as mTOR. The protein mTOR affects the cell’s ability to degrade and eliminate other proteins and components it no longer needs. If these materials can’t be removed, they can interfere with the cell’s ability to function and can even lead to cell death. Our ultimate hope is that treatments that affect mTOR may eventually be useful for treating Parkinson’s disease.

This article originally appeared on page 5 of the Summer, 2015 PMDF newsletter.