Today, the Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences concluded the activities of the 8th Dubai International Conference for Medical Sciences at Al Bustan Rotana Hotel, Dubai.

 

The 3-days conference which was held in conjunction with the ceremony of honoring the winners of the 8th term of the Award, discussed drug discovery, vaccines, targeted therapy and cell therapy with the participation of a galaxy of experts and specialists from 12 countries around the world.

 

Mr. Abdullah bin Souqat, Executive Director of the award, spoke about the outstanding success of the award ceremony and the conference locally, regionally and globally. “Such a success culminates 2 years of hard work in the centers of the award.  During the award ceremony, the digestive diseases were announced as the new topic for the 9th term, 2015-2016, and I think it is an important topic to be discussed”, he said. 

 

“The Dubai International conference for Medical Sciences included 12 workshops and 22 lectures by senior scientists and researchers. During the last day of the conference, the lectures were presented by the winners of the Hamdan International Award for Medical Research Excellence, Hamdan International award for volunteers in humanitarian medical services and Hamdan Award for Distinguished Personalities in the Arab world”, Abdullah Bin Souqat said.

 

As for the lectures presented by the winners of the Hamdan International Award for Volunteers in the humanitarian medical Award, Curtis Kohlhaas, Chief Development Officer at the Carter Center, USA, presented a lecture about the center’s efforts in establishing the principles of human rights around the world, enhancing the opportunities for economic growth and improving health.

 

Also, the efforts of the Noor Dubai Foundation, UAE, in the humanitarian field were discussed, and Dr. Mads Gilbert from Norway presented a lecture on targeting health facilities. 

 

According to the winners of the Hamdan Award for distinguished personalities in the Arab world, they were among the conference’s keynote speakers namely; Prof. Mohammed Ahmed Ghoneim from Egypt and Dr. Zohair Youssef Al Halees from Saudi Arabia.

 

Prof. Carl June, USA, a winner of Hamdan International Award for Medical Research Excellence in the topic of Cell Therapy, presented a lecture tackled the subject of treating cancer using cell therapy. 

 

The work presented by Prof June combines elements of genetic engineering and molecular biology to create new biological structures with enhanced functionalities. The lecture presented the results of using modified T cells in combating acute and chronic leukemia and children with advanced leukemia.  

 

Prof. Olle Ringden, Sweden, a winner of Hamdan International Award for Medical Research Excellence in the topic of Cell Therapy, presented a lecture about the potential benefit of using certain placenta-derived cells to treat not only the symptoms of GVHD but also other autoimmune disorders such as rheumatological diseases and inflammatory bowel disease.  Prof. Ringden’s work had direct implications on treating the graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) using totally innovative approaches. 

 

Prof. Moustafa Kassem presented a lecture about skeletal stem cells, and gave a comprehensive review of human mesenchymal stem cells and their use in clinical applications.

 

Prof. Jurgen Hescheler, the director of the Institute of Neurophysiology at the University of Cologne, discussed pluripotent stem cells in regards to their physiology and usage in cell therapy and toxicity testing.    

 

The last lecture in the conference was presented by Prof. Karim Nayernia from Newcastle University who talked about a newly developed personalized assay for breast cancer, termed as ONCOASSAY breast as an example of applying molecular technologies in personalized cancer diagnostic and therapy.