These four Arab female scientists want to inspire the next generation

Dubai - 20,000 euros is the value of the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Middle East fellowship

Four female scientists have bagged a coveted fellowship for their contributions across different disciplines of science. With the purpose of solving prominent problems facing the Middle East region specifically, and the world in general, the women representing four Gulf countries are one step closer towards making their research idea a reality.
They can take their research to the next level thanks to the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Middle East that granted them ?20,000 and networking opportunities.
In its fourth year running, the fellowship, under the theme 'Women in Science have the Power to Change the World', aims to show that greater diversity has a more profound impact on research quality.
Speaking to Khaleej Times, they said they hope to inspire young generations of women to fearlessly pursue their aspirations in whatever field they prefer.

Hanifa Taher Alblooshi,
UAE
Contribution field: Chemical engineering
Currently an assistant professor at Al Masdar Institute's chemical and environment engineering department, Alblooshi is studying ways that activate enzymes used in producing biodiesel.
"Commercially, biodiesel is produced by using chemical catalysts due to deficiencies that enzymes have. But using enzymes is more sustainable and produce higher quality products," said Alblooshi.
She is working on developing a new integrated system through new solvents that would protect and activate the enzyme movement. "The key is to develop a new system that allows us to use the same solvent in the process. This will minimise waste production and help produce high quality material with few products," she said.
In the long run, she noted, the process will contribute to food security. "Conventionally, vegetable oil is used to produce biodiesel, which poses a threat to food security and can increase food prices."
 

Shimaa Eissa,
Saudi Arabia
Contribution field: Bionanotechnology and biosensors 
For two years, Eissa worked on identifying the DNA sequence, instead of antibodies, that would help in diagnosing diabetes via detection of glycated hemoglobin.
"Current devices measure glucose in the blood to identify diabetes - based on the antibodies - which is a costly and complicated process that takes time."
With 19 per cent of UAE's population diagnosed with diabetes, Eissa said the number is expected to increase due to people's common unhealthy lifestyle.
The diagnostic device Eissa hopes to introduce will measure glucose through glycated hemoglobin - the product of normal hemoglobin and glucose - to give sugar levels of the past three months.
"When your glucose is high, your glycated hemoglobin will naturally be high as well. The big step we achieved is identifying DNA sequence, and the next step is to test these sequences selected from different blood samples to integrate it into a device that can be used by patients themselves."

Lila Habib,
Kuwait
Contribution field: Biomedical engineering
In collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Habib focused on generating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from healthy people's skin cells to investigate a rare genetic disease more common in the Middle East.
The limb-girdle muscular dystrophy causes weakness in the hip area and arms.
Habib, an assistant professor at the faculty of medicine at Kuwait University, is hoping to generate a disease model, through using stem cells, to screen for therapeutic drugs and enable scientists to probe the cellular and molecular processes underlying the diseases.
"The disease is common in the Middle East due to the rise of endogamy, and is ignored by Western pharmaceutical companies," said Habib, who was first introduced to the diseases through a colleague's son.
She said the absence of official statistics on the disease is a warning sign that cannot be ignored.

Maha Al Asmakh,
Qatar
Contribution field: Biomedical science
 
For Al Asmach, science has been her favourite subject since high school. Currently an assistant professor at the health sciences college at Qatar University, Al Asmakh is studying how normal bacteria in intestines could help women during pregnancy and influence organ maturation in early life.
"My previous research showed that gut microbiota could affect the fetus' brain development," she said.
Through the fellowship, she aims to study the maternal gut microbiota in depth to pave way for novel microbiota-based interventions.
sherouk@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE