HH Sheikha Moza visits center for iPS cell research in Kyoto

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), visited today the Center for induced pluripotent stem (iPS) Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University in Japan.

During the visit Her Highness met with Dr Shinya Yamanaka, Director of CiRA and Professor at Kyoto University. Dr Yamanaka is also a 2012 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine. 

The remarks were followed by an overview of CiRA given by Dr Yamanaka, a talk on cell therapy for spinal cord injury, and discussion of research collaboration and scientist exchange opportunities between Qatar Foundation R&D and CiRA. The visit concluded with a lab tour.

Speaking of the synergies between the institutes, Her Highness said, “Innovation is key to all that we do at Qatar Foundation. Last year, we launched the World Innovation Summit for Health, known as WISH, which is a global initiative aiming to promote innovation in the delivery of healthcare around the world. It was there that we announced the ‘Qatar Genome’ project, which is a roadmap for our journey towards personalised medicine.”

Her Highness was accompanied by Mr Faisal Alsuwaidi, President of QF Research and Development (R&D), and a delegation from the Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), headed by the Executive Director Dr Hilal Lashuel. QBRI was established to conduct research to tackle diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease through advancements in platform technologies such as stem cells and genomics, with the aim of translating the research outcomes into clinical practice.

CiRA was established in 2010 in order to further advance iPS cell research. Through collaborations with researchers in Japan and abroad, CiRA has advanced technological development aimed at drug discovery and regenerative medicine (cell transplantation therapy).