Hesham El Abd

Hesham El Abd is a Postdoctoral Researcher affiliated with the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology (IKMB) at Kiel University and the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH). His work focuses on modeling peptide-HLA-II interactions using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze mass spectrometry-based immunopeptidomics data, aiming to characterize antigen presentation mechanisms in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

• Key Research Interests: AI-driven immunopeptidomics, HLA-II biology, IBD pathogenesis, microbiome-CD4+ T cell interactions, computational modeling.

Publications: His notable work includes a 2020 New England Journal of Medicine study identifying genetic risk loci for severe COVID-19 with respiratory failure via GWAS. This aligns with his expertise in large-scale genomic data analysis.

Collaborative Projects: Participates in microbiome and immunogenetic research within the Bacher/Franke group, targeting intestinal yeasts and pathogenic yeast-responsive T cells in Crohn’s disease. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).