Three core research laboratories, equipped with some of the most advanced equipment, are operational at Sidra Medical and Research Center (Sidra), an official said.

“The Omics Core, Genomics Core and Deep Phenotyping Core labs are state-of-the-art facilities staffed by high-calibre scientific teams from all over the world,” Dr Ena Wang, acting chief research officer of Sidra, said.
“One more core lab, Clinical Research Centre, will be opened later this year. Sidra’s research core capabilities and capacity are well advanced so as to meet both national and international needs and the advancement of healthcare delivery in Qatar,” she said.
The research facilities at Sidra are world class and most of them are unique not only in the country but in the entire region.
Max Renault, director of research operations, indicated that Sidra will get some more labs in the coming months for various experiments.
“We are in the process of assessing the implementation of Zebra fish capacity at Sidra, providing researchers access to sophisticated equipment and facilities for studying vertebrate development biology and developing zebra fish models of diseases,” said Renault.
“As a biological system, the zebra fish model offers distinct advantages for researchers. It has stable, easily observable and testable development behaviours; it is cost-effective; its genome is fully sequenced and its embryonic development is very rapid. It will be a key facility for identifying genes in disorders like cancers and cardio-vascular disease in humans, and help identify potential new treatments,” Renault said.
According to Dr Wang, Sidra has built a state-of-the-art translational research infrastructure that enables the implementation of precision medicine.
“Sidra’s research branch aims to advance the understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of diseases, develop early prevention, accurate diagnostic and advance therapeutics and improve the health outcomes for women and children of Qatar,” the official said.
“Our research teams are currently working on several research programmes that align with national priorities and healthcare needs to help facilitate prevention, early and targeted intervention for certain conditions such as cancer, obesity, preterm birth and genetic disorders that are affecting the local population,” she said.
Dr Wang pointed out that Sidra has several collaborations at national and international levels leading to a number of joint programmes and research.
At the national level, Sidra collaborates with various organisation including Qatar Genome Programme, Qatar University, Qatar Biomedical Research Institute, Qatar Biobank, several universities and other research organisations.
At the international level, there are very close collaborations with some of the leading healthcare organisations from the US, Europe, Thailand and Japan.
“We are competitive at an international level now, creating comprehensive Qatari genomic database which will form the building blocks for precision medicine, not only in Qatar, but in the wider Middle East. Several high-impact research projects also have been initiated involving collaboration with several leading institutions and international experts in their field,” said Dr Wang.
According to the official, several discoveries made by Sidra’s researchers have been published in prestigious international journals and presented at major scientific conferences, advancing scientific knowledge as well as building up recognition for Sidra in the international scientific community.