Gal Bitan PhD

Gal Bitan completed his graduate studies in organic chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Dr. Bitan's graduate work on unnatural amino acids and non-conventional peptide cyclization methodologies led him to postdoctoral studies on the structural biology of ligand-receptor systems including integrins and G protein-coupled receptors at Clark University, Worcester, MA and Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

Dr. Bitan then moved on to tackle the problem of protein misfolding and aggregation, which is involved in over 30 devastating diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, prion diseases (e.g., Mad Cow disease), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gherig's disease), and type II diabetes. Working at Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, Dr. Bitan has made fundamental contributions to the study of early events in the pathologic cascades that cause Alzheimer's disease.