Hisham Mazal

Hisham Mazal is a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL), part of the group led by Prof. Vahid Sandoghdar. His research focuses on advancing cryogenic super-resolution fluorescence microscopy to study protein structures in native environments. Key objectives include developing workflows for correlative light-electron microscopy using vitrified samples and enhancing detection sensitivity for small proteins via machine learning.

Education: BSc in Biotechnology Engineering (ORT Braude College, 2010-2013), MSc in Chemical and Biological Physics (Weizmann Institute, 2013-2015), PhD in Single-Molecule Protein Dynamics (Weizmann Institute, 2016-2020). Joined MPL as a postdoc in 2020.

Research interests span cryogenic microscopy innovations, protein dynamics, membrane protein analysis, and machine learning applications in imaging. His work bridges structural biology and biophysics, with recent contributions to PIEZO1 channel studies, α-Synuclein aggregation, and sub-10kDa protein detection.

Notable collaborations include work on AAA+ protein machines and enzymatic activity modulation, leveraging single-molecule FRET and advanced microscopy techniques. His lab integrates interdisciplinary approaches to uncover functional protein mechanisms at atomic scales.