Research Matters

Last year, Qatar National Research Fund completed fifteen years of its operation. During this time, we have stayed true to our mission of enabling research excellence in Qatar across all disciplines and at all levels, and have successfully contributed towards building a world-class research ecosystem that is helping produce innovative solutions for the challenges faced by Qatar, the region, and globally. We are proud of our achievements which would not have been realized without the sheer dedication and hard work of our team and its leadership. Here, I would like to specially acknowledge the role played by Dr. Abdul Sattar Al-Taie, who retired last week, after serving QNRF as the founding executive director since its inception. For the past fifteen years, Dr. Al-Taie has exemplified decisive and consistent leadership to

As far as cancer genetic studies are concerned, the Arab/Qatari ethnic populations have not been extensively studied which has led to disparate gaps in our knowledge of cancer predisposition genes in these populations. Among the different types of primary breast cancers, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains the most important challenge and there is a significant gap in our understanding of the genetic, and environmental factors underlying its etiology and progression.

This month, we feature Dr. Nura Adam Mohamed, who recently made the scientific and research community in Qatar proud by receiving the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award. Dr. Mohamed is a graduate of the Biomedical Science Department, College of Health Sciences (CHS)-Qatar University, a former member of QNRF’s Qatar Research Leadership Program (QRLP) through which she received a scholarship to study her MRes and PhD degrees from Imperial College of London.  She is currently working as a Research Associate at the Biomedical Research Center (BRC) at Qatar University. We ask her about her academic and research journey and her insights into the important role that women can play in the RDI ecosystem of Qatar.

Launched in 2018, QNRF’s High School Research Experience Program (HSREP) is driven by the mission to enable research at all levels, and encourages students in local high schools to get hands-on research experience under the mentorship of experts. In addition to introducing students to a career in research, HSREP also helps identify top talent to represent Qatar at various international competitions. The International Invention, Innovation & Technology Exhibition (ITEX) held annually in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is one such leading international competition, and this year, young researchers from Qatar have won the gold medal there and made us all proud.