Obituary for Mohamed Ibrahim, PhD (^✝︎09.08.2024)

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Mohamed Ibrahim, a brilliant researcher whose contributions have had a lasting impact on the SFB 1078 and beyond in the scientific community. Born on 23 June 1987, Mohamed dedicated his life to research and innovation, with a particular focus on biochemistry/biophysics and structural biology.

In 2008, he graduated with a first class honours degree from the Faculty of Science 2008 at Ain Shams University in Egypt. He then received an Erasmus Mundus scholarship in 2011 to start his Masters in Protein Chemistry at LUND University in Sweden. During his master's thesis in Zouni’s lab at TU-Berlin in June 2012, he developed a passion for photosystem II (PSII) research. He continued his PhD studies at the HU-Berlin under the supervision of Prof. Athina Zouni, and later pursued postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Prof. Holger Dobbek until January 2022. In his postdoctoral work, Mohamed focused on optimising PSII purification and crystallisation for X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL), laying the foundations for significant advances in structural biology. In October 2020, he was awarded the third place Young Investigator Award by SLAC in recognition of his exceptional research on PSII performed at the LCLS X-ray free-electron laser facilities. Mohamed later joined Rolf Hilgenfeld's group at the University of Lübeck, where his research expanded into drug design, specifically targeting corona proteases.

His dedication to science was unwavering and his work was generously supported by the SFB 1078, which contributed to breakthroughs in PSII crystallization and XFEL data analysis.He will be remembered not only for his pioneering work, but also for his passion, dedication and the profound mark he left on his field.

Mohamed passed away on 9 August 2024 after long illness, leaving behind a legacy of scientific excellence and innovation. He will be deeply missed by his colleagues, friends and loved ones.