At Al Jalila Foundation we know that research has the power to advance medical breakthroughs that could save millions of lives and change the fabric of science as we know it. We also know that this goal will not be achieved alone and believe in the power and strength of our partnerships. Mohammed Bin Rashid Medical Research Institute, an initiative of Al Jalila Foundation, partnered with Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) to advance biomedical research in the UAE.

Al Jalila Foundation provides AED 8 million of funding annually to support MBRU research activities which fosters greater unity among the research community and creates more opportunities for faculty and students to further their education and explore ways to support each other’s research objectives. A number of joint research studies have already been published in prestigious global research papers.

Scientific research is a critical resource for discovering new ways to diagnose and treat diseases affecting mankind. Al Jalila Foundation and MBRU share a commitment to advance discovery on therapies and treatment protocols that will benefit the UAE population. This partnership combines the strengths of our institutions and supports the mission of Dubai Academic Health Corporation to advance health for humanity. It inspires collaborative research and enhances the quality of both entities’ research programs to contribute to the UAE’s thriving medical research ecosystem.

Testament to Dubai’s status as an emerging global hub for scientific research and innovation, Stanford University recognised nine faculty members from MBRU in its latest rankings of the world’s top 2% scientists. Click here to read more.

Globally, diabetes is estimated to affect 420 million adults. Studies show that the prevalence of diabetes in the UAE is estimated to affect a quarter of the local population.

Hematological (blood) disorders that occur in diabetes patients are found to put them at a higher risk for developing atherosclerotic coronary and peripheral arterial disease. Therefore, developing new technologies that offer alternative approaches to understand disease progression is of high importance for assessing risks and providing improved treatment in the future.

Al Jalila Foundation research grant recipient, Professor Mohammad Qasaimeh from New York University Abu Dhabi, aims to tackle this problem by developing biochip technology for monitoring and diagnosing diabetes through exploring the mechanical properties of red blood cells (RBCs). The new technology was tested with patients’ blood samples in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

The biochip, developed with technologies used for manufacturing transistors and electronic devices such as phones and computers, utilises a tiny blood drop to assess the stretchability of red blood cells at the single cell resolution. RBCs were stretched by means of controlled electrical fields; a microscale phenomenon called electrodeformation. The experiments looked at stretching RBCs from individuals with Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) and compared the results to those RBCs from healthy donors.

Interestingly, RBCs from T2DM samples were easily distinguished from healthy ones as they are shown to be stiffer and less stretchy in comparison to RBCs from healthy subjects. By looking at the stretchability of RBCs, the biochip was shown to rapidly identify T2DM cells with 90% accuracy, demonstrating its potential as reliable diagnostic tool for T2DM, as well as a high throughput technique for evaluating the biomechanical properties of cells obtained from clinical samples.

According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally with about 1 in 6 deaths due to cancer. The main reason why it is so lethal is that cancer cells spread from their primary growth site to different body organs, a process known as metastasis. This process is intricately regulated by tumor-intrinsic and host-specific factors.

Al Jalila Foundation research grant recipient, Professor Basel Al-Ramadi from United Arab Emirates University, is studying novel ways by which cancer metastasis can be controlled and prevented. Professor Al-Ramadi and his team have been investigating the possibility of using a class of drugs, known an endothelin receptor antagonists (ERA), to stem the ability of cancer cells to spread. If successful, this research could translate to repurposing these drugs, which are normally used to regulate blood pressure, to fight cancer.

As proof of concept of their approach, the team tested ERA in a preclinical model of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), one of the most intractable and most difficult-to-treat breast cancer types. Breast cancer tends to spread to the bones, liver, lungs, chest wall and brain. In collaboration with colleagues in Germany, the study has so far demonstrated that ERA can in fact inhibit the metastasis of TNBC cells to vital organs such as the liver and lungs. The investigation is now focused at uncovering the precise mechanisms through which ERA can inhibit cancer metastasis, which is necessary before these drugs can be utilized in the clinic.

To learn more about this ongoing research study, please click here.

Al Jalila Foundation is committed to be a leader in medical research and in our mission to discover innovative solutions to address the medical challenges of the future we engage with the greatest minds in the UAE. Professor Salah Gariballa, from UAE University, is one scientific leader who studies nutrition, disease and ageing in prevention and treatment of illness. He has published more than 100 research papers, books and book chapters including more than 60 articles on this important topic.

The UAE has one of the highest prevalence of abdominal (visceral) obesity related diabetes mellitus in the World.  Possible mechanisms that relate visceral obesity to increased risk of diabetes and other related complications include inflammation and oxidative damage.

Due to rising levels of obesity and associated complications in the UAE, Al Jalila Foundation supported a research study lead by Professor Salah to investigate levels of antioxidants both enzymes and vitamins and oxidative damage markers in overweight and obese subjects receiving structured dietary education and to measure their response to visceral fat loss.

Antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables are known to promote health by combating oxidative damage resulting from increased free radicals which are linked to the pathogenesis of obesity related complications.  Increased fruits and vegetables consumption also help weight loss through their low energy content and high dietary fiber content.

The study results revealed that obesity is associated with increased oxidative stress.  The study results also support a beneficial role of higher fruits and vegetables intake in subjects with visceral obesity.  These findings if proven, with availability of healthy food choices could have enormous public health implications for reduction of visceral obesity and its health consequences in the UAE and worldwide.

In the UAE, there are nearly 756,000 people diagnosed with diabetes and reports suggest that about 300,000 are undiagnosed. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major complication of diabetes and can lead to vision loss if untreated. Innovative and comprehensive approaches are urgently needed to reduce the risk of vision loss by prompt diagnosis and early treatment of DR.

To address this issue, Al Jalila Foundation invested in a research study lead by Dr Mohammed Ghazal from Abu Dhabi University to develop a computer-aided diagnostic system for early assessment of retinopathy in diabetic patients.

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) are noninvasive imaging techniques that are widely used to diagnose and manage a variety of retinal diseases. The novel computer-aided diagnosis system for the early diagnosis and optimal management of diabetic retinal diseases uses OCT and OCTA scans.

This technology will revolutionise how scans are currently used and allow unbiased, standardised diagnosis of DR based on automated interpretation of OCT and OCTA scans. This will expand the use of these technologies from retina specialists to other community-based physicians to save all patients’ sight, regardless of their ability to see a specialist.

An unbiased automated system would significantly tailor the individual patient’s retinal disease treatment regimen to improve outcomes and minimise treatment costs. With this approach, ophthalmologists may accurately and objectively detect diabetic retinopathy promptly and possibly monitor its progression without needing the traditional subjective physical assessment that may lack sensitivity or precision.

Liver cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and the sixth most prevalent cancer in the GCC countries. A survey by the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi reported liver cancer as the tenth most common cancer in the UAE and one of the top five leading causes of death in male cancer patients. Liver cancer shows significant gender bias, with incidence two to four times more common in males than females. This phenomenon is not fully understood, but the protective role of the estrogen hormone was reported.

To understand this critical issue, Al Jalila Foundation awarded a research grant to Dr Jibran Sualeh Muhammad from the University of Sharjah to study ‘Estrogen-induced epigenetic regulation of Iron metabolism in hepatocellular carcinoma’.

The study showed that estrogen hormone and estrogen receptor agonists disrupt intracellular iron homeostasis by epigenetically downregulating the expression of crucial iron metabolism-related genes in liver cancer cells.

Identifying epigenetic-based gene silencing that could turn off gene expression in cancer cells is a new field of investigation in carcinogenesis. It is now becoming clear that input from the epigenetics-based analysis will continue to make ever-increasing contributions to liver cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy in the coming years.

Future studies would pave the way for further consideration of the complex relationship between estrogen hormone signaling and liver cancer cell death. Based on these findings, there is a possibility of innovation in terms of using estrogen-receptor agonists as an adjunct therapy to enhance liver cancer cells’ sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs.

To learn more about this study, please click here.

COVID-19 has disrupted the world, produced chaos and posed a significant threat to global health. Since the first outbreak, several treatments have been developed to prevent the spread of this virus with many vaccines approved and extensively administered. However, the fact that SARS-CoV-2 rapidly mutates makes the efficacy and safety of this approach constantly under debate and the development of small molecule antivirals are still needed to combat the infection.

To tackle this global challenge, Al Jalila Foundation took the lead to support promising local research to fight COVID-19. One of these studies is led by Professor Taleb Al-Tel from the University of Sharjah and is directed toward the discovery of small molecules that inhibits the proteases enzymes of the virus with the aim to discover first-in-class treatment options.

Professor Taleb’s research has developed modular and efficient strategies to access the core scaffolds of various classes of nature-inspired compound collection employing complexity-to-diversity strategy. From this collection, a relatively potent lead drug candidate was discovered that covalently binds to the main protease of the virus.

Another finding is the discovery of novel small molecules that are potent inhibitors of the papain-like protease of the virus which were tested using various infected cells. To validate these findings, the compounds are under further analysis using transcriptomic studies and investigating their effect on innate immune system.

These important findings form the foundation for the development of novel treatments for COVID-19 infections.

Liver cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and incidence is increasing dramatically in the Gulf region.

As treatment options are limited Al Jalila Foundation awarded a research grant to Dr Kirsten Sadler Edepli from New York University Abu Dhabi who is looking at targeting the epigenetic changes and genomic instability that occurs in hepatocellular carcinoma as a promising avenue for developing new therapies.

The research aims to provide an understanding of how epigenetic changes lead to cancer. The team focus on the epigenetic regulator and oncogene, UHRF1, which is overexpressed in all human solid tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma.

Using zebrafish to decipher how UHRF1 causes cancer by overexpressing UHRF1 in hepatocytes, this model enables investigation into how precancerous cells develop, and how they are converted to malignant, tumor forming cells.

The study found that UHRF1 overexpression activates senescence as a tumor suppressive mechanism and stops hepatocyte proliferation, accompanied by the activation of DNA damage repair mechanisms.  DNA damage response is required for senescence induction and a pro-inflammatory immune signature and the recruitment of immune cells to the pre-cancerous liver tissue may halt tumor growth by eliminating cells damaged by high levels of UHRF1. Unfortunately, senescence can be bypassed so that precancerous cells can develop into cancer. Cells which are damaged by UHRF1 overexpression become malignant and form tumors. The investigation in the mechanism of senescence bypass continues, which is an important area to target to prevent pre-cancerous lesions from developing into tumors.

To learn more about this study please click here.

Smoking is the number one risk factor for lung cancer and tobacco smokers are at 20 to 40 times higher risk of developing lung cancer in comparison to non-smokers.

With a research grant from Al Jalila Foundation, Dr Rania Zaarour from Gulf Medical University Ajman, is studying the effects of smoking on remodeling the tumor microenvironment and shaping stemness and immunogenicity in lung cancer.

Tobacco can be smoked using different ways, including waterpipes.  The team performed waterpipe smoke (WPS) analysis that revealed significant concentrations of toxicants including 27 known or suspected carcinogens thought to cause dependence, heart disease, lung disease and cancer.

This shows that exposing lung cancer cell lines to WPS condensate (WPSC) interferes with cell proliferation, cell plasticity, DNA damage and tumor cell recognition and killing by natural killer cells.

The results indicate that WPSC is a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of lung cancer. If a cancer patient continues to smoke, WPSC may serve as fuel to the cancer cells and may contribute to metastases. In fact, continued smoking is considered a strong adverse predictor of survival and increases the risk of a second lung cancer compared to those patients who stopped smoking. Therapy modalities can be more effective by eliminating smoke exposure to cancer patients and by targeting the inflammatory mechanisms to control the emergence of aggressive cancer clones with epithelial mesenchymal transition and stemness features.