Qatar National Research Fund announces the award finalists of 2014 U.S-Qatar-MENA Infectious Disease Research Initiative

In partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institution of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), CRDF Global, Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), a member of Qatar Foundation Research and Development (QF R&D), recently announced the award finalists of the 2014 U.S-Qatar-MENA Infectious Disease Research Initiative, which includes a team led by a researcher from the Supreme Council of Health in Qatar (SCH). The initiative was announced during the Endemic and Emerging Viral Infectious Diseases of Priority North Africa and the Middle East (MENA) meeting that convened in Doha, Qatar from May 26-29, 2014.

By investing in cutting-edge research, QNRF 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 through QF’s science and research pillar, QF R&D.

The research projects for this grant competition focused on endemic and emerging viral infectious diseases affecting the Middle East and North Africa (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 QNRF has established a unique partnership through this initiative to support research on viral infectious diseases in the MENA region,” said Dr Abdul Sattar Al-Taie, Executive Director of QNRF. “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.”

The SCH team awarded under this grant, led by Dr Mohammed Al-Hajri, will study the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection in humans and camels. This project is a collaboration between SCH and the University of Gezira, Sudan. 

Other winning teams include researchers from Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. Project titles and institution affiliations of all the award finalists can be found on the CRDF Global website www.crdfglobal.org