Manama: Research teams from Qatar, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United States have been awarded seed funding to fight infectious diseases under the 2014 US-Qatar-MENA Infectious Disease Research Initiative.
The initiative envisioned to establish new biomedical collaborations between US, Qatar, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) investigators and institutions was announced during the Endemic and Emerging Viral Infectious Diseases of Priority North Africa and the Middle East meeting that convened in the Qatari capital Doha in May 2014.
The partnership comprises National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institution of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), CRDF Global – an organization that promotes international scientific and technical collaboration through grants, technical resources, training and services-, Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), a member of Qatar Foundation Research and Development (QF R&D).
The research projects for the grant competition focused on endemic and emerging viral infectious diseases affecting the MENA region, including MERS, hepatitis C and E, influenza and HIV/AIDS among others.
This year-long grant fosters new biomedical research collaborations between leading researchers from Qatar, the MENA region and the United States, to unite some of the world’s brightest minds to solve critical issues of direct relevance to Qatar and its surrounding region.
“Research on biomedical health issues is an important part of the Qatar National Research Strategy which is why Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) has established a unique partnership through this initiative to support research on viral infectious diseases in the MENA region,” Dr Abdul Sattar Al Taie, Executive Director of QNRF, said. “This programme will expand regional and international research collaboration in this field, and facilitate knowledge and technology transfer between researchers in Qatar and their peers throughout the world.”
QNRF said that by investing in cutting-edge research, it is enhancing a research culture that supports Qatar Foundation (QF) on its mission to build Qatar’s innovation and technology capacity, helping the nation develop into a hub of research excellence.
