Essam M. Abdelalim

Dr. Abdelalim is currently a group leader at QBRI & Assistant Professor at HBKU in Qatar Foundation. He received his PhD in Medical Science from Shiga University of Medical Science (Japan) and was later appointed as Assistant Professor in the same university. He was among the first researchers joined QBRI at its early stage and he had the privilege to set up the first stem cell research program focusing on diabetes research in Qatar at HBKU. Since March 2014, he has been leading the diabetes stem cell research at QBRI. During his work at QBRI, he published 34 research articles, 4 protocol chapters, 2 book chapters, 2 Springer Nature Books, and submitted 4 patent disclosures. He serves on the editorial board of “Stem Cells and Development” and “World Journal of Stem Cells” and serves as a reviewer for several funding agencies. His current research focuses on using hPSCs to investigate pathophysiology underlying the development of diabetes and generating functional pancreatic cells for cell therapy. He has been awarded several NPRP grants funded by Qatar National Fund (QNRF). Also, he obtained several QBRI Internal Research grants to study diabetes and pancreatic beta cell differentiation. Furthermore, he is currently the program coordinator for Harvard Stem Cell Research Institute (HSCI)-QBRI project 1 and participates in other HSCI-QBRI projects.  His team has established several iPSC lines from a wide range of patients with diabetes (monogenic and polygenic) and has established novel protocols for enhancing the differentiation of hESCs/hiPSCs into insulin-secreting beta cells. He established strong collaboration in the field of diabetes with the key scientists and clinicians from different institutions inside Qatar, including HMC, Sidra Medicine, CHLS, WCMQ, and CMUQ. As academia constitutes an integral part of HBKU mission, he is heavily involved in supervision and mentoring. Currently, he was the primary advisor for 10 HBKU students (6 masters and 4 PhD) and the co-supervisor for 3 PhD students. Of those students, 5 master’s and 3 PhD students had been graduated in 2018, 2019, and 2021. The work of his students has been recognized nationally and internationally as indicated by receiving 8 awards, including the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Merit Award in 2019 and HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani Educational Award being granted to one of my PhD students in 2021.