Background
Muqit was born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland and initially studied Medicine graduating with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (Honours) from the University of Edinburgh (1991-1997).
General scientist clinical neurologist
Muqit was born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland and initially studied Medicine graduating with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (Honours) from the University of Edinburgh (1991-1997).
Muqit was born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland and initially studied Medicine graduating with Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (Honours) from the University of Edinburgh (1991-1997). He subsequently studied Neurobiology at Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar and undertook research in Mel Feany"s laboratory where he generated a Drosophila model of Huntington"s disease (2000-2001).
He later obtained a Doctor of Philosophy as a Medical Research Council Clinical Training Fellow at University College London jointly supervised by David Latchman and Nicholas Wood (2001-2004). where he studied two genes associated with early-onset Parkinson"s disease parkin (a ubiquitin ligase) and PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1).
He also trained as a clinical neurologist. He completed general medical training at the Hammersmith Hospital and hospitals affiliated to Imperial College London.
He then trained as a neurologist at several London hospitals, including King"s College Hospital, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Royal London Hospital, Street Barts and Homerton Hospital, Charing Cross Hospital and Hurstwood Park Neurological Centre.
He trained in movement disorders with Andrew Lees and Khailash Bhatia at the National Hospital.
His main subspecialist interests are Parkinson"s disease and related movement disorders. He also has a major interest in inherited forms of Parkinson"s disease. In 2004, together with Patrick Sleiman, Muqit identified and characterised the first mutations in the PINK1 gene in families with inherited Parkinson"s disease and contributed to the discovery of mutations in the PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) in familial Parkinson"s disease.
In 2008, he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellowship sponsored by Dario Alessi at the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation Unit to investigate the molecular signaling pathways of the Parkinson"s disease associated kinases, PINK1 and LRRK2.
He has since made advances in the understanding of PINK1, including identification of the first substrate namely the RING E3 ligase Parkin phosphorylated at Serine65. In 2011, he was appointed Consultant Neurologist at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
In July 2013, he received a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellowship to continue his research. In 2013, he was received a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship in Clinical Science to continue the research over the next five years.
He awarded almost £2 million in funding to investigate the causes of Parkinson"s disease, to investigate the role of two genes, PINK1 and Parkin, which are mutated in patients with inherited forms of Parkinson"son
In March 2014, the research team, led by Muqit, made an unexpected discovery about the way the two genes interact which lead to the disease interact and could open up exciting new avenues for research around Parkinson"s and offer new drug targets. In parallel to his research, Muqit continues to treat patients with a variety of neurological diseases, including Parkinson"son Muqit is a scientist at the University of Dundee"s Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit.
His main subspecialist interests are Parkinson"s disease and related movement disorders, and has a major interest in inherited forms of Parkinson"s disease.