Saudi Female Researcher to achieve patent in Organ transplantation without donors
Taha Sakr
Saudi female researcher Dr. Wafa Oudah Al-Talhi, an assistant professor at Taif University and a a researcher at the Harvard University won recently the Laurel-UNESCO Fellowship for Women in Science award at its sixth session in recognition of her research on improving patient health without relying on organ donors.
The award aims to recognize and support outstanding women who have contributed to the progress of science in the Middle East.
According to the Saudi channel of Al-Arabyia, Al-Tahli said that the research is an attempt to make human organs from cells of the person who needs these organs himself.
She further revealed that a number of countries are competing to achieve this attempt, the largest of which is Japan and USA, these trials from the mentioned countries are supported by large pharmaceutical companies based there.
She stressed that the research is like other researches in the medical and biomedical sectors, noting that this research has been done in partnership with other researchers based in the laboratory that she works in at Harvard University.
“I worked on this research at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Hospital Institute for a year and a half, however my research in histology lasted for nearly ten years at the Universities of Ottawa and Toronto, Canada, while obtaining master’s and PHD degrees, through the scientific missions that went under the auspice of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques” Al-Tahli told Al-Arabyia channel.
The L’Oréal-UNESCO Program for Women in Science was launched 21 years ago, and since then, the L’Oréal Foundation and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have been supporting, honoring creative researchers and highlighting their achievements in the scientific fields, for the sake of contributing to Gender equality, encouraging more girls and women to specialize in science.
