In Science Middle East Regional Young Talents Program 2021
Dr. Nura Adam Mohamed, a graduate from the Biomedical Science Department, College of Health Sciences (CHS)-Qatar University. Who is now working as a Research Associate at the Biomedical Research Center (BRC) at Qatar University, has been awarded the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Middle East Regional Young Talents ward 2021, which is a prestigious award designed to recognize young female scientists in the region.
Dr. Nura Mohamed, was one of nine winners in the Post-Doctorate Researchers category. She was recognized for her research towards developing nonconventional, novel therapeutic tools to prevent the development of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. This regional initiative has recognized over 3,900 phenomenal researchers and 122 Laureates from more than 110 countries and regions since its inception 24 years ago.
Dr. Mohamed focuses on developing nano-formulations that have cardioprotective effects to battle the high prevalence of diabetes and its associated cardiovascular complications. Her research is gaining national and international attention, especially as the world moves towards targeted drug delivery, personalized medicine, and stem cell technologies, which can be achieved by using nanomaterials as drug carriers. Furthermore, she is focusing on the use of stem cell technologies in isolating progenitor cells from the patient’s blood which also aids in understanding the diseases’ progression, better establishing lab-oriented disease models in studying the different implications of the drug response on different people and help to bring these prototypes closer to the clinical trial phase.
This award will help Dr. Nura Mohamed pursue her research plan and establish collaborative ties with the leading experts in nanomedicine, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes in Qatar, the UK, and Australia to further translate these prototypes to other disease areas. Dr. Mohamed believes that these prototypes hold great promise in the field of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus, which will provide a significant leap in developing better treatment options for diabetes mellitus and enhance the diabetes-nanomedicine field in Qatar, the GCC, and the world.
Prof. Asmaa Al-Thani, The Vice President for Health and Medical Sciences, and Director of Biomedical Research Center, commented: “We are incredibly proud of Dr. Nura for this remarkable achievement. Because of her contribution to research and deep commitment to her profession, she has been recognized by one of the most prestigious international awards, the L’Oreal UNESCO award. This achievement reflects the maturity of scientific research in Qatar University since its establishment in 1977.”
Dr. Nura Mohamed commented: “I was thrilled and honored to have won this award, as this award will help me set an example for my colleagues and students, to encourage more women to join the scientific research community, and to represent women researchers in Qatar as well as representing the Biomedical Research Center (BRC) and Qatar University. It will also help me build collaborative relationships with world-leading scientists in the field of nanomedicine in both cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Most importantly, platforms like this are highly important as they help us highlight the great effort and achievements women in Qatar made in the scientific research field, and the great encouragement and empowerment given to us by our society, institutes and by the government. My future plans are to help establish a nanomedicine based lab at the BRC that serves in innovating new therapeutic and detection strategies for diabetes and associated cardiovascular complications. In addition, I would like to help building research based bridges between QU and the world’s leading research institutes in the field of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.”
Source: QATAR UNIVERSITY
