Research Profile - College of Medicine and Health Science - United ...

Genetics and
Development
diagnostics and genetic counseling among
healthcare workers to reduce the occurrence
of new cases of genetic diseases
4.To create opportunities for collaborative
research activities between scientists in the
UAE with regional and international leading
scientists in the field
To fulfill these objectives, the conference
committees assembled a three-day scientific
programme in the form of plenary lectures,
symposia, workshops, oral and poster
presentations covering a wide variety of themes
such as the genetics of diabetes, obesity,
osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular and skin
diseases as well as the genetics of congenital
malformation and mental retardation. During
the three day conference, over 30 outstanding
international and regional leaders in the field
of human genetics delivered their latest
scientific findings. In addition, several sessions
and workshops were devoted to the genetic
diseases prevalent in Middle Eastern countries
including prevention and genetic counseling
approaches. The speakers came from
prestigious international and regional
institutions. The opening session started with
remarks on the importance of genetics and
genomics research by Professor Christopher A.
Walsh from Harvard Medical School and the
opening lecture was delivered by Professor
Philippe Froguel from Imperial College London
and CNRS in France on the genetics of type 2
diabetes, a disease that affect over 30% of the
UAE adult population. The conference ended
with closing remarks by Prof. S. George
Carruthers, the conference president and the
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health
Sciences.
Scientific programme of the conference:
33 Invited speaker presentations (see the list
below)
12 Oral presentations selected from submitted
abstracts (out of 118 received)
8 Workshop presentations
98 Poster presentations
Invited Speakers at the conference:
Prof. John Hardy, University College London, UK
Prof. Philippe Froguel, Imperial College London,
UK, and CNRS, France
Dr. Joseph G. Gleeson, San Diego, USA
Dr. I. Sadaf Farooqi, Cambridge University, UK
Prof. Serge Ferrari, Geneva University,
Switzerland
Dr. J. Clay Stephens, Motif BioScience, USA
Prof. Stephen B. Liggett, University of
Maryland School of Medicine, USA
Dr. C. Geoff Woods, Cambridge University, UK
Prof. Christopher A. Walsh, Harvard Medical
School, USA
Dr. Berthold Streubel, Medical University of
Vienna, Austria
Prof. Christine Mannhalter, Medical University
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