Becoming a board-certified physician in the United States has always been Mohab Ali’s dream. The Egypt native has been tirelessly working toward that goal, packing his bags in 2008 and traveling halfway around the world to continue his training and research. Fortunately for iCubed, his journey eventually landed him here in Rhode Island, where he diligently works each day in the laboratory with the hope of bringing his dream to fruition. For his relentless effort and dedication, iCubed has named Mohab our Featured Researcher of the Month.

Before beginning the United States leg of his career, Mohab studied medicine at Alexandria University in Egypt, graduating with a medical degree in 2008. After completing an internship in 2010, he moved to the United States to tackle the next stage of his education. In 2011, he landed a position as a visiting physician at Clinic Esperanza in Providence, a clinic that offers services to uninsured residents. The clinic is run by iCubed Director Dr. Annie De Groot. 

During this period, Mohab also took part in a research project at the Molecular Oncology Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. There he studied the role of TGFb in the pathogenesis of myeloproliferative disorders using bone marrow transplants.

In October 2013, Mohab joined the team at iCubed and quickly found his stride. His daily responsibilities include assisting in H7N9 influenza vaccine development as well as the Pilot project, which is based on assessing the impact that the order of epitopes in a concatamer has on the ability to express the concatameric protein.

As for his future plans, Mohab is sticking to the script and continues to work toward becoming a board-certified physician. The next step? Finding a residency position. Once certified, he hopes to start his own project on a hepatitis C vaccine.