citizens is caring for the disabled
On the occasion of winning the Prince Salman Award for Disability Research, Dr. Sami Bin Fawzan Al-Kuraia, Consultant Medical Genetics at the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Faisal University, said: "As a Saudi citizen, my fawn is a source of national pride par excellence." He explained that the adoption of scientific awards is what distinguishes the developed countries scientifically. He pointed out that the cell performs its various functions through a complex operating program, and that understanding this operating program (and this is the core of genetics) is a sure way to understand the work and structure of the human body and how diseases occur and treat them. He emphasized that there are biological molecules capable of rejuvenating humans, and there is a special branch of research called aging research, and I am optimistic about his future. Dr. Sami Al-Kuraia added, in an exclusive interview with Al-Steph, that the pace of our discoveries of the genes responsible for the different forms of disability is accelerating .. The dialogue also included many aspects about developments in genetics research, and other important topics that he might say for the first time in this dialogue .. Dr. Fawzan Al-Kuraia is Professor of Human Genetics at the College of Medicine at Alfaisal University, and he is a Senior Consultant at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. He has written dozens of scientific papers and is on the editorial board list of a number of prestigious journals in the field of genetics, including the American Journal of Human Genetics, and he lectures from time to time in local, regional, and international conferences on human genetics. Professor Sami Al-Kuraia graduated from the College of Medicine, King Saud University in 1999. He completed his studies in pediatric sciences at Georgetown University Hospital and did a fellowship in Molecular Genetics at Harvard School of Medicine where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in science. Evolutionary Genetics. Dr. Al-Kuraia has received many awards, including the First Place Honorary Award from King Saud University, the Distinguished Research Award for Fellowship from Harvard Medical School and Children''s Hospital in Boston, the Excellence Award from the Dubai-Harvard Foundation for Medical Research, and the William King Bose Award in Medical Genetics from Harvard School of Medicine. And finally, the Prince Salman Award for Disability Research, which was received by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and Supreme President of the Prince Salman Center for Disability Research - may God protect him - in the opening session of the Fourth International Conference on Disability and Rehabilitation, in the Science Branch Health and Medical Sciences, in appreciation of his distinguished research efforts in the field of medical and health sciences related to disability.
First of all, we would like to inform us about your feelings on the occasion of your winning the Prince Salman Prize for Disability Research .. And how does the award reflect the state’s interest in scientific research and scientists, and the appreciation of science as a vital means of development and progress?
Happiness is overwhelming in the meaning of the word. On the one hand, it is an international prize that many scholars compete on, and on the other hand it is a prize of Saudi origin, and therefore my winning as a Saudi citizen is a source of national pride par excellence. The adoption of scientific awards is what distinguishes scientifically advanced countries, and how much happiness was when I learned about the introduction of this award and its ambition to have its name associated with distinguished names in all aspects of disability research.
What is genetics, and what is its importance for humans, whether with regard to diseases or treatment?
This is a complex question that I will not be able to fill in a number of sentences, but I will say briefly that there is no science that probes the depths of life like genetics, as we now know that the cell performs its various functions through a complex operating program represented in the genetic code present in the DNA and then Understanding this operating program (and this is the core of genetics) is a sure way to understand the functioning and structure of the human body and how diseases occur and treat them.
What are the most prominent developments in the field of medical genetics ... and how can it be used in the treatment of disabled children in particular, and the disabled in general?
The publication of the human genome map in the early 2000s, such as a quantum leap, accelerated the understanding of the genetic code, and then the innovation of the new generation technique for determining the DNA sequence occurred. This was a milestone in medical genetics where it became possible for the first time to determine the entire DNA sequence when The patient to find out the cause of his illness. And the latest developments in medical genetics are an amazing discovery that took place in 2013 and its Nobel Prize winning is almost a foregone conclusion, which is the possibility of re-editing the genetic code as we wish, which means the possibility of treating genetic disabilities using the patient’s own cells after re-editing her genetic code, and I am confident that This will fundamentally change the face of the history of treating genetic disabilities.
A while ago, you received the William King Boys Junior Medical Genetics Award, as the first physician to win this prestigious American award from outside the United States, which is an important scientific award from the Personal Medicine Center in the Partners Group, which supervises the university hospitals of Harvard Medical School in Boston in the United States. American .. This was not the first award, but rather it was preceded and followed by many awards, but what is the importance of this award and what was its theme? ... and what is the role of awards in your scientific career?
This award has a special taste, whether in terms of the scientific body that supports it, which is Harvard Medical School, or in terms of the target group, as it is given to one yearly winner representing the best specialists in medical genetics in the United States who have not completed their fellowship program more than four years ago. For years, I was the first to win it from outside the United States because the jury approved my membership in the Harvard faculty, which I maintain through teaching in the summer semester in Boston, so the committee approved this as evidence of my eligibility for this American award despite my being in the Kingdom. The competition for this award is primarily based on the candidate’s research career and how unspeakable my happiness was when the president of the jury called me to tout my victory and tell me that the committee decided that unanimously because they were amazed at my stock of high-quality scientific papers in a record period.
Four years ago, specifically on December 19, 2010, I published an article in Al-Riyadh newspaper under the title "The Elixir of Youth and Genetics," heralding the possibility of reaching a drug that prevents cell aging and thus the non-aging of man ... So what level has the research on this topic reached .. And is it really possible To a day when a person will be young all along?
I want there to be a balance in understanding that article, in which I intended to refer to a specific study that managed to rejuvenate mice that were subjected to premature aging in an industrial way and not in mice with natural aging. Perhaps the most amazing part of this study is another recently published study in which researchers have demonstrated that aging mice return to youth if their blood is replaced by the blood of young mice, which means that there are already biological molecules capable of rejuvenation. However, there is a special branch of research called aging research, and I am optimistic about its future.
You launched a gene therapy program that would restore vision to people with retinitis pigmentosa, which destroys the visual cells of those with it and narrows the angle of vision, and then leads to blindness. This was done with the support of the Prince Salman Center for Disability Research .. Can you tell us about that program and this disease and what results it has achieved so far?
I would like to delay the answer until we publish the study very soon.
How do you see the importance of the Prince Salman Center for Disability Research in avoiding disability in children, as well as in reducing the negative effects of disability on the disabled?
The Prince Salman Center for Disability Research is a pioneering center that has taken upon itself a very great responsibility and its success depends on the cooperation of several parties, and I say this in fairness so that we do not carry the center more than it is possible, and with this, I say that the center has imprints that will not be forgotten in reducing disability. Most notably, on the practical level, is his contribution to the introduction of the early detection program for newborns, which, after God Almighty, had the merit of avoiding a large number of children for very serious complications if their diagnosis was delayed.
The gene therapy program to restore vision for people with retinitis pigmentosa was supported by the Prince Salman Center for Disability Research, where one of the founders of the center took the initiative to donate five million dollars to follow its practical steps ... Scientific research and specialized services in the field of disability, especially since scientific research institutions in the West and America depend on donations and donations almost?
For the sake of fairness, I would like to point out that philanthropists in the West have donated financial incentives called tax exemptions and the absence of an income tax in the Kingdom deprives local research institutions of this advantage, but I am confident in the ability of sincere people to come up with other innovative methods that include exemptions and facilities of another type for businessmen and companies that contribute In advancing scientific research and I hope that will be done soon.
Is the Kingdom considered among the countries with the highest number of disabled people, and what is the number of disabled people in the Kingdom? What is the role of inbreeding in incidence of disability? How can the increase in the number of people with disabilities be avoided?
This is a very important question. Yes, survey research studies leave no room for doubt that marriage to relatives increases the chance of disabilities of all kinds. Rather, the more the disability is extremely rare, the greater the chance that its occurrence is limited to families in which the father and mother are related. Therefore, I hope that there will be national campaigns that educate people about this important fact to reduce the problem.
How do you see the role of the Disabled Children Association in treating, educating and rehabilitating disabled children for free, through its system of specialized centers in various regions of the Kingdom, and has reached so far about nine regions with ten centers?
The pioneering role played by the association is a source of pride and I hope that the number of centers will double, as the difference is wide between the current absorptive capacity and the number of people in need of its services.
What is your latest research in your field of specialization, and are there new news on the level of diagnosis or treatment?
