أستاذ مساعد | وكيلة قسم الكيمياء الحيوية

العنوان: المبنى 5, الدور الثالث, 279 | الهاتف: 0118056811

Amani Ahmed Alghamedi

التعريف الشخصي: 
I am a lecturer in the Biochemistry Department at King Saud University since 2007. I have a general interest in Neurochemistry with a particular interest in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, especially in the formation of the amyloid fibrils and the aggregation of the unfolded protein. Neurology problems are common in my country, and there is a need to understand the causes and explore therapies. In addition to my personal interests, my country needs to have a stronger research base comprised of qualified workers who can build on what is already in place. I completed a BSc in biochemistry at King’s College London in 2004, graduated with an MSc in Molecular Life Science Research at the same university in 2006 and awarded my PhD in July 2015. During my BSc and MSc studies, I was involved in several research-based modules, and my interest in biomedical research developed as a result. Because I spent several months in a research laboratory, my experience in the MSc programme made me realize how much I enjoyed research. Since graduation, I have been with the Department of Biochemistry at King Saud University, working as lecturer, developing experience in presenting bioscience materials and teaching students. My degrees from KCL and my experience in a teaching environment provided me with the necessary qualifications to pursue a higher degree in medical biosciences. I secured a state grant for a full-time MPhil/PhD study in the UK. My PhD programme gave me extensive experience in different techniques such as ELISA, Westen Blot and Immunohistochemistry. I also performed cell culture work, measuring the enzyme-like activity using synthetic peptide substrate and tissue homogenization and by measuring the protein content. I also had the opportunity to give demonstrations in the undergraduate biochemistry laboratory. I attended some courses in statistics and SPSS. I learned how to present data using SPSS, GraphPad Prism and Excel and how to manage my references with EndNote. I joined the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases at King’s College London in October 2010. I started my PhD by reading extensively about dementia and exploring a database with more than 200 cases of Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and also some control cases from which we had tissue samples. Lewy body dementia is the second most common neurodegenerative dementia and is pathologically characterized by α-synuclein positive cytoplasmic inclusions, with varying amounts of amyloid-β (Aβ) and hyperphosphorylated tau (tau) aggregates, in addition to synaptic loss. A dysfunctional ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS), the major proteolytic pathway responsible for the clearance of short lived proteins, may be a mediating factor of disease progression and of the development of α-synuclein aggregates. My study determined the protein expression of component subunits of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). Furthermore, I analysed the main proteolytic-like (chymotrypsin- and PGPH-) activities. The middle frontal (Brodmann, BA9), inferior parietal (BA40) and anterior cingulate (BA24) gyrus’ cortex were selected as regions of interest from PDD (n=31), DLB (n=44), AD (n=16) and control (n=24) brains. Clinical and pathological data available included the MMSE score, and semi-quantitative scores for AD pathology (Aβ and tau) and for α-synuclein (Lewy bodies). My study found that DLB, PDD and AD were characterized by significant reductions of one of the main components of the proteasome (RPT6) in prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex compared with controls. In addition, strong associations were observed between RPT6 levels in prefrontal, parietal cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus and cognitive impairment. These findings highlight the involvement of the UPS in LBD and indicate that targeting the UPS may have the potential to slow down or reduce the progression of cognitive impairment in DLB and PDD.

Amani Ahmed Alghamdi

 

 

Employment: 

  • 2016 – (present)   Assistant professor at Biochemistry Dept, College of Science, King Saud University, teaching Undergraduate courses in Biochemistry.
  • 2007 – 2015 Lecturer at Biochemistry Dept, College of Science, King Saud University, teaching Undergraduate courses in Biochemistry. - See more at: http://fac.ksu.edu.sa/aalghamedi/cv#sthash.AxMHKid4.dpuf

Education:

  • Ph.D. (2015) PhD in Neuroscience, Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King's College London.
  • ​M.Sc. (2006)  MSc Molecular Life Science Research, Department of Biomedical & Health Sciences, King’s College London, UK
  • B.Sc. (2004)   BSc Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry, School of  Health and Life Science, King’s College London, UK.

Position held:

  • Lecturer-  Biochemistry department.- College of Science- King Saud University since 7/4/1429
  • Assistant professor Biochemistry department- College of Science- King Saud University since 21/4/1437.
  • Department Deputy of Biochemistry department (Girls section), Center for Science and Medical Studies for Girls, King Saud University, Riyadh, 18/11/1437.

Research Interests:

  • I have a general interest in Neuroscience topics with a particular interest in dementia, asI am also interested in developing my understanding in the mechanisms behind the pathology and the causes which leads to dementia.

 

Administrative activities:

  • Member in postgraduate student committee, Biochemistry department,  Center for Science and Medical Studies for Girls, King Saud University, Riyadh, 1437-1438.
  • Member in the demonstrators committee, Biochemistry department, King Saud University, Riyadh, 1436-1438
  • Member in the teaching load committee, Biochemistry department, King Saud University, Riyadh, 1436-1438

Computing Skills:

  • Word processing (Microsoft Word)
  • Spreadsheets (Microsoft Excel)
  • Presentation (Microsoft PowerPoint)
  • Information and communication (email and internet)
  • Statistics & Mathematics (SPSS and GraphPad Prism)
  • Bibliography and Manuscript (EndNote)

 

Teaching Skills:

  • I have been working at King’s Saud University in Riyadh as a lecturer in biochemistry, in addition to communicating and dealing with students problems which they face during their academic year.
  • Demonstrate practicals for undergraduate students during my PhD study at King's college London.

 

Technical Biochemistry Skills:

  • Western blot
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • ELISA
  • enzymatic assays.

 

Publication:

  • Whitfield, D. R., Vallortigara, J., Alghamdi, A., Hortobagyi, T., Ballard, C., Thomas, A. J., O'Brien, J. T., Aarsland, D. & Francis, P. T. 2014. Depression and Synaptic Zinc Regulation in Alzheimer Disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, and Parkinson Disease Dementia.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry.

 

  • Whitfield, D. R., Vallortigara, J., Alghamdi, A., Howlett, D., Hortobagyi, T., Johnson, M., Attems, J., Newhouse, S., Ballard, C., Thomas, A. J., O'Brien, J. T., Aarsland, D. & Francis, P. T. 2014. Assessment of ZnT3 and PSD95 protein levels in Lewy body dementias and Alzheimer's disease: association with cognitive impairment. Neurobiol Aging.

 

  • Vallortigara, J., Rangarajan, S., Whitfield, D. R., Alghamdi, A., Howlett, D., Hortobagyi, T., JOHNSON, M., Attems, J., Ballard, C., Thomas, A. J., O'Brien, J. T., Aarsland, D. & Francis, P. T. 2014. Dynamin1 concentration in the prefrontal cortex is associated with cognitive impairment in Lewy body dementia. F1000Research, 3, 1-9.

 

  • Julie Vallortigara, David R. Whitfield, Amani Alghamdi, William Quelch, SindhooRangarajan, Mary Johnson, David Howlett, TiborHortobágyi, Johannes Attems, Clive Ballard, Alan J. Thomas, John T O’Brien, Dag Aarsland and Paul T Francis. Decreased Levels of VAMP2 and Monomeric Alpha-Synuclein Correlate with Duration of Dementia. J Alzheimers Dis. 2015 Nov 30

 

  • AmaniAlghamdi, David R. Whitfield, Julie VallortigaraTiborHortobágyi, Clive G. Ballard, David Howlett, Dag Aarsland, John O’Brien, Johannes Attems, Paul T Francis Reduction of Rpt6/S8 (a Proteasome component) is associated with cognitive decline in LBD & AD submitted .

 

  • AmaniAlghamdi, David R. Whitfield, Julie VallortigaraTiborHortobágyi, Clive G. Ballard, David Howlett, Dag Aarsland, John O’Brien, Johannes Attems, Paul T Francis Reduction of Rpt6/S8 (a Proteasome component) is are associated with AD pathology and depression in the Lewy body dementias In preparation.

 

Conferences and poster presentation:

 

  • Alzheimer's Research UK (ARUK), Leeds 2011. Impairment of the proteasome in frontal cortex in Lewy body dementias. Julie Vallortigara, Francis E. Warren, Clive G. Ballard, Frank G. Boess, Dag Aarsland, Marie-Therese Targett, AmaniAlghamdi& Paul T. Francis.

 

  • [[AAICAD: International Conference on Alzheimer's disease (ICAD), Paris, 16-21 July 2011. Impairment of the proteasome in prefrontal cortex in Lewy body dementias. Julie Vallortigara, AmaniAlghamdi, Francis E. Warren, Clive G. Ballard, TiborHortobágyi, Johannes Attems, Dag Aarsland, Frank G. Boess, Marie-Therese Targett& Paul T. Francis.

 

  • ARUK: Alzheimer's Research UK conference, Birmingham, 27-28 March 2012. Effect of proteasome and p62 protein impairment on frontal cortex and anterior cingulate in Lewy body dementias AmaniAlghamdi, TiborHortobágyi, Clive G. Ballard, Johannes Attems, John O’Brien, Dag Aarsland& Paul T. Francis

 

  • AAICAD: Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 2012 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, July 14-19, 2012. Proteasome and p62 protein impairment on frontal cortex and anterior cingulate in Lewy body dementias AmaniAlghamdi, TiborHortobágyi, Clive G. Ballard, Johannes Attems, John O'Brien, Dag Aarsland& Paul T. Francis

 

  • ESN conference: 5th conference on Advances in molecular mechanisms underlying neurological disorders, Bath, 23-26 June. Reduction of Rpt6/S8 (a Proteasome component) is associated with cognitive decline in LBD & AD. AmaniAlghamdi, TiborHortobágyi , Clive G. Ballard, David Howlett, Dag Aarsland, John O'Brien, Johannes Attems, Paul T Francis

 

  • Attending many training courses on the Researcher Development Programme at King’s college London.