Tomorrow morning, HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and the Patron of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences (SHAMS), will open the 15th Human Genome Meeting in conjunction with the 4th Pan Arab Human Genetics Conference at Maktoum Hall in Dubai World Trade Centre.

 

The conference is organized by SHAMS in collaboration with the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO).

 

Dr. Mahmoud Taleb Al Ali, the Director of the Award’s Centre for Arab Genomic Studies and a member of the HGM’s Scientific and Organizing Committees praised the unlimited support for the largest gathering of geneticists worldwide by HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

 

He said that the eyes of all countries of the world will be tomorrow on UAE, which is the first Arab country to host the HGM through more than two decades, the age of HUGO, whose international headquarter is in Singapore.

 

"The prestigious status of UAE among world countries has allowed this major scientific event to be held here in Dubai", he added.

 

He said that 1200 geneticists are expected to participate in the 4-day HGM 2011, during which 480 research papers by 1700 researchers from 66 countries around the world will be discussed.

 

He also noted that the preparation for this big event has taken considerable time and efforts, to be held at the appropriate level.

 

He added that he is proud of the participation of distinctive top geneticists in HGM 2011, led by Prof. Edison T Liu, the president of HUGO and the Executive Director of the Genome Institute of Singapore, a biomedical research institute of the Agency for science, technology and research.

 

Also participating in the HGM 2011 is Professor Sydney Brenner, Chairman of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Singapore and the Nobel laureate for Medicine in 2002.

 

Dr. Mahmoud Taleb Al Ali said that HGM 2011 will discuss the next generation of genome technologies and their impact on heritable disorders, stem cell therapy, and genetic diseases such as cancers, metabolic diseases, deafness and neurological disorders in terms of diagnosis and treatment.

 

The conference will also discuss the global economic effects of genome applications and their related ethical and legislative challenges.  Among the discussed subjects is the use of developed algorithms to read human genome maps and allow the discovery of disease-related loci.

 

During the conference, the HUGO Council will conduct several closed meetings to discuss its future strategic plans; the details of the forthcoming HGMs; its publications, in particular, The HUGO Journal; and the goals and directions for its various sub-committees.

 

The Executive Board and Arab Council of CAGS will also hold a number of important meetings to evaluate their achievements during the past years and discuss future projects.

 

Several significant meetings with representatives of international participating organizations will be held to discuss ways of cooperation aiming to reinforce HUGO’s role in the realm of human genomics and genetics.

 

As a satellite event of HGM 2011, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a non-profit organization supporting genome research, will organize a 3-day workshop between the 19th and 21st of March at the American University in Dubai. The workshop aims at training 30 geneticists on how to use bioinformatics tools freely available on the internet, focusing primarily on the Human Genome data.