UDST President Dr. Salem Al Naemi addressing the conference.
Doha, Qatar: The University of Doha for Science and Technology yesterday concluded the International Conference on in-silico Trends and Approaches in Drug Discovery and Development, highlighting the use of artificial intelligence and technology in drug discovery and experimentation.
The three-day conference was a vital forum for experts, researchers, academics, students, and industry professionals to share knowledge, contemporary ideas, and tools for in-silico drug discovery and development. The event was sponsored by the Qatar National Research Fund, under the Qatar Research Development and Innovation Council.
In a statement, UDST President Dr. Salem Al Naemi said, “By bringing together diverse expertise in the field of in-silico pharmacology, this conference helps push the boundaries of drug discovery and development research within the context of education. The conference underscores our commitment to support and be part of pivotal scientific discussions and developments. It also represents the University’s integral role in fostering an environment for scientific innovation and dialogue.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Al Naemi told The Peninsula that the idea of the conference is to explore the latest in the field, especially with top scientists from the US, Thailand and Qatar coming together to highlight the advancement of their research and what they’ve been doing, how they are doing it, and the results.
“We are also encouraging our medical and pharmacy students to learn from this and to encourage them to stimulate their minds to engage in research. This research would be related to problems we have in Qatar and the region, especially on diseases like cancer, diabetes, genetic disorders and others,” Dr. Al Naemi said.
He added that the conference was an opportunity for officials and students to network and explore programmes being offered by top universities across the globe.
“We noticed that some universities like the University of Southern California offer summer programmes, and our objective always is to send our students for summer training. So, this is an opportunity and a platform for our students to exchange with other students and find other institutes doing advanced research for them to join. Hopefully, they will come back and reflect on what they have done to benefit Qatar and even in the region,” he added.
The conference witnessed over 300 individual registrations and featured over 50 accepted abstracts worldwide. Awards were also distributed for Best Postgraduate Student Presentation received by Noor Abdulla, University of Bahrain and Dana Nizar Mustafa Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar, and the Best Researcher Presentation Award presented to Shimaa Mohammed Sherif Khedr, Sidra Medicine.
In a separate achievement, UDST honoured one of its students, Raniah Farooq, from among undergraduate students at the College of Health Sciences with the Undergraduate in silico Pharmacology Research Excellence Award. Dr. Al Naemi said another UDST undergrad student won a full scholarship for her Ph.D. He noted that the recognition for UDST students confirms that UDST is doing the right things and encouraging students to research in Qatar but beyond the University.
“We are very delighted when we see these results. I’m very proud. At the end of the day, what we are doing is to get young scientists because they are the future.”
Attendees navigated complex topics within computational biology, exploring and debating the potentials and challenges of the recent trend, applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to drug discovery.
