Arab American University congrats and is proud of Dr. Thabat Al-Khatib and researcher in Applied Neuroscience, Dr. Al-Khatib graduated from the Faculty of Sciences and Arts at Arab American University in 2012. She succeeded to add her name on the list of innovators in Britain after the invention of a drug treatment for Alzheimer's disease and received two patents.
Al Khatib is currently working at the University of Aberdeen – Faculty of Medicine as a researcher in Neuroscience dept. and aspires to be a lecturer in Palestine to add value to students and the community.
Al-Khatib said commenting on the two inventions:
“I focused on Alzheimer's disease in my research because it is the most common form of dementia that affects the nervous system, which is about 60% to 70% in the world”.
The first and second patents were about the same idea, which is the development of a new drug formulation that affects the neurons and improves their performance in different ways. These formulations may benefit various neurological diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease. The discovery of the formula began by noticing that older people with Alzheimer's disease there is a lack in a chemical substance called retinoic acid and a malfunction in the body's system. This substance is usually derived from vitamin A and provided to the body, the substance cannot manufacture it by itself. So we have manufactured a similar, more powerful and more effective form of retinoic acid. These drug preparations are currently under study in the laboratory to see its long term affects, and we hope that they will soon pass on to human clinical trials. The operation is expected to take several years. "If everything goes smoothly, it will be the first of its kind in the world in terms of formulation and function and will benefit patients on a large scale."