Ahmad Al Shaibi, Research Specialist at Sidra Medicine.
Doha: Sidra Medicine’s Research Department has embarked on studies which would positively impact patient care both directly in the short term, and indirectly over the long term.
For the direct benefit to the patient, research provides insight which could help the physicians understand the case and adjust treatment based on findings, while on a broader, social/human level, the goal is to figure out the role of different genes in the immune system and how defects in these genes may contribute to disease, said Ahmad Al Shaibi, Research Specialist II in the Division of Translational Medicine at Sidra Medicine.
“By studying diseases that have a genetic component, we can understand what the role each gene has when it comes to immunity because we know what happens when it is not functioning properly. In doing so, not only do we figure out how these diseases work, what facilitates diagnosis, prevention, and treatment, but we also gain insight into the immune system in general. This insight will allow medical professionals in the future to manipulate the immune system to improve treatment options,” said Al Shaibi.
In the short term, if researchers find that someone has a defect in a key pathway, like IL10 signaling, then the patient might need a bone marrow transplant after confirmation with a clinical test. Researchers, once they have figured out the mechanism of a disease, can help the patients they are studying, by trying to find if any of the approved drugs in the market will work to help address the patient’s condition.
“Once this becomes a real possibility in any of our research projects, it turns from a purely scientific endeavour to one that improves patients’ health. This is something that could immediately improve the lives of people we work with and provide major support to the clinicians in helping these patients. In doing so, we are contributing to the creation of a healthcare system that can provide personalised care in a practice known as ‘precision medicine’ ” said Al Shaibi.
Al Shaibi plays multitudes of roles within the research department that begin at the patient and end at the bench. His responsibilities include recruiting patients, processing samples, designing and running experiments, and analysing data.
“Our lab has a focus on monogenic autoimmune and immune dysregulation diseases, which overlap with a wide range of specialities (immune-mediated neurological diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases IBD (like Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis), ALPS, immune deficiencies etc.),” he said.
He added, “I am currently working on a mutation we found in one of the families that we think is causing the disease in their child. The child suffers from very early-onset, severe IBD. Our job is to investigate this mutation’s involvement in the child’s disease and to elucidate the mechanism of how that happens,” he said.
Al Shaibi, who was sponsored by Sidra Medicine, is a young Qatari researcher and was initially inspired by the abundance of natural scientists and philosophers in Islamic history (mainly during the Islamic golden age), and how their studies were motivated both by scientific curiosity and by their faith.
“My parents encouraged me to read children’s science books and watch documentaries and I credit that for my love of nature and technology and STEM fields. It also allowed me to come to the conviction that countries in the region will not move on and survive without the ability to contribute to pushing the frontiers of humanity, both through generation of knowledge and translating it to a benefit to humanity. I want us to contribute to humanity significantly enough to be remembered, and I think science is a great way of doing this,” said Al Shaibi.
He encourages young people with an interest in the field of science or medicine to go after that passion.
