Miratul Muqit

Background

Muqit's father Mohammed Abdul Muqit, a general practitioner, and his mother Mamtaz Begum, a psychiatrist, are living in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Muqit's younger brother is ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon Dr Mahi Muqit.

Education

Muqit was born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland and initially studied Medicine graduating with MB, ChB (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh (1991–97). 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 PhD as a MRC 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, St 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.

Career

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 MRC 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's. 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's.

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.

Muqit's research has made several important breakthroughs in the genetical mutation responsible for Parkinson's disease.

Awards

In December 2013, Muqit was awarded the 2013 Linacre Medal and Prize Lecture of the Royal College of Physicians.

In October 2016, he was named as European Molecular Biology Organisation Young Investigator Programme (EMBO YIP).

In June 2017, Muqit was awarded the 2018 Graham Bull Prize in Clinical Science and Goulstonian Lecture of the Royal College of Physicians.