Grants awarded to students and professor at Khalifa University

Almost half a million dirhams awarded to researchers.

ABU DHABI// Almost Dh500,000in grants have been awarded to research students and university faculty by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

Six Emirati Khalifa University students have each been awarded Dh50,000 as part of the Young Emirati Postgraduate Research Students Mobility Award for ongoing research. Dr Nicolas Christoforou, an assistant professor in Biomedical Engineering at the university, was awarded Dh175,000 under the University-Industry Research Collaboration Award.

The funding will allow Dr Christoforou to continue his stem cell research, a project titled “Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Bio-Bank for the study of Cardiovascular Disease.”

The work focuses on creating a “library” of stem cells of people representative of the UAE population, both healthy and otherwise. The cells will then be used to study and potentially provide cures for various types of cardiovascular diseases in the future.

Sameera Al Mulla, Sara Al Maeeni, Khawla Al Ghafli, Ebtesam Almazrouei, Maryam Al Shehhi and Salwa Alzahmi were the students awarded the grants.

The funding will provide them with the opportunity to continue research in a range of information technology, including the digital forensics of cloud computing.

The grants will also allow the students to develop their research interests overseas at Imperial College of London, Lancaster University and University of Surrey.

“We are thrilled that our students have received these prestigious grants from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research,” said Dr Mohammed Al Mualla, senior vice president of research and education at Khalifa University.

“One of the keys to conducting successful and rewarding research is the ability to collaborate, visit, and learn from other people and institutions who share their interests.”