Kamal Nahas

Kamal graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Biology from Imperial College London and an MSc in Integrated Immunology from the University of Oxford. He next pursued a joint PhD between the University of Cambridge and the Diamond Light Source, where he studied the herpes simplex virus (HSV) lifecycle in the cell using the untapped, underexplored 3D imaging technology at beamline B24.

During his doctoral training, Kamal investigated how the cell remodels organelles during HSV infection using soft-X-ray tomography on cryopreserved samples (cryoSXT), pinpointing uncharacterised interactions involving mitochondria, lipid droplets and other cellular features. Additionally, he developed a Python program called Contour to segment and quantify organelles for his projects, and this program is now available to other users too. To study different stages of virus assembly and expand understanding of the virus' lifecycle, he combined cryoSXT with structured illumination microscopy under cryogenic conditions (cryoSIM). This allowed Kamal to correlate fluorescently tagged HSV particles with corresponding ultrastructural detail in the cell. Using various HSV mutants, he characterised the roles of multiple viral genes, observing phenotypes linked to attenuated assembly, including some that have never been seen before using similar strategies, such as electron microscopy. He also visualised the mechanism behind HSV envelopment in the cytoplasm in 3D for first time, clarifying the geometric changes that vesicles undergo in the process. His doctoral work contributes to the basic biology behind HSV morphogenesis within the cell and helped expand the experimental capabilities of the beamline.

Currently, Kamal is a beamline scientist at B24, where he leverages his PhD experience to assist users in optimising their experiments. He also oversees maintenance of the cryoSIM microscope and contributes to ongoing upgrades and developments of the beamline. Through his collaborations with users as well as his development efforts, Kamal ensures B24 remains a hub of scientific innovation.