Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, has signed a partnership agreement with the Institut Pasteur, an internationally-renowned institute based in Paris, France, to work closely in the field of biomedical research.

The two research intensive entities will collaborate in the fields of academics, research, teaching and knowledge sharing, remarked Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, the chairperson of Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Vice-chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation, after signing the deal with Dr Christian Bréchot, the president of Institut Pasteur at a ceremony held in Paris.'

Named after the renowned Louis Pasteur, the Institut Pasteur brings with it 130 years of breakthrough discoveries in preventing and treating infectious diseases.

With ten Nobel laureates, the Institute's contributions to field of medicine and physiology are innumerable. Today, the 130 research units of its Parisian campus site continue to make contributions of global impact to biomedical research.

"HBKU has consistently and diligently played a prominent role in promoting and facilitating innovation, scientific research and academic excellence, in Qatar with the aspiration of global impact. We firmly believe that our commitment to being a global leader in innovation and education has yielded numerous achievements since our inception," noted Sheikha Hind.

"Today, with this new partnership with the Institut Pasteur, our researchers, scholars, academics and students will be further emboldened to facilitate ground-breaking discoveries in healthcare, biomedical sciences, and genomics," she added.

Christian Bréchot, the president of the Institut Pasteur, said one of the Institut Pasteur's fundamental missions is to bring its expertise to support capacity building in biomedical research through training and education.

"The Institut Pasteur has been involved one year ago in training medical professionals from the Qatar ministry of health by organizing an intensive outbreak investigation course in Doha. The signing of the agreement with HBKU enlarges the frame of the partnership to higher education and research institutions led by Qatar Foundation," he stated.

"Hence, it will include in addition to infectious diseases the research on most prevalent chronic diseases in the region like diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative and genetic diseases, particularly in the context of the successful Qatari genome project," he added.-TradeArabia News Service