The College of Health and Life Sciences (CHLS) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) participated in Sidra Medicine’s fifth Precision Medicine and Functional Genomics Symposium (PMFG 2020), held virtually from December 5-7.
The 2020 edition explored the latest developments and innovations in genomics research and how they translate into precision medicine solutions. Scientists, academics, healthcare professionals, community members and policymakers from several countries shared lessons and insights from research, education and clinic practice.
HBKU was represented by several CHLS faculty members, who made vital contributions that highlighted the advanced research being conducted at HBKU.
Day 1 focused on expanding the potential of precision medicine, and the latest advances from landmark global projects, including the Qatar Genome Programme, with a keynote address by Professor Sir Mark Caulfield, chief scientist, Genomics England, UK, on the 100,000 Genomes Project.
Speaking at Session 1, Dr Omar Albagha, professor and co-ordinator of the Genomics and Precision Medicine programme at CHLS, addressed ‘The Performance of European-derived Polygenic Scores for Health-Related Traits in the Qatari Population’. During the same session, Dr Georges Nemer, professor and head of the Genomics and Translational Biomedicine Division, presented a talk on ‘Education in Precision Medicine: Ethics in Sharing Knowledge Across Borders’.
A special session dedicated to Covid-19 highlighted precision medicine solutions and scientific progress made to date, including biomarker and vaccine trials. The session was hosted by Dr Luis Saraiva, the director of Sidra Medicine’s Metabolism and Diabetes Programme, who also teaches at CHLS.
Dr Saraiva said, “Our conference this year sought to bring a meaningful exchange of existing solutions, current research and clinical efforts being conducted not only in Qatar but also globally in order to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. All of this is underpinned by precision medicine and we are very impressed with the contributions from our speakers. Sidra Medicine has recently put forward its own research success stories regarding testing for Covid-19 and we were pleased to have our partners from HBKU also present their own research on the topic.”
Dr Hadi M Yassine, associate professor of Infectious Diseases at the Qatar University Biomedical Research Centre, and adjunct faculty at CHLS, presented on ‘A One Health Approach to Address Covid-19 in Qatar’.
Other thematic discussions touched on large scale multi-omics population stratification to enable personalised medicine, examining the challenges and opportunities for big data in patient care and data integration approaches aimed at clinical applications.
Speaking after the symposium, Prof Georges Nemer, the Genomics and Translational Biomedicine Division head at HBKU, said: “Sidra Medicine’s Functional Genomics conference was a vital opportunity to explore the alignment of genomics with precision medicine, how it can be applied to patient care in a global context, and also how it can be commercialised in the future.
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