New WCM-Q programme teaches young Qatari scientists key lab skills – The Peninsula

New WCM-Q programme teaches young Qatari scientists key lab skills – The Peninsula

Doha: Ten ambitious college students with an interest in research gained a solid foundation in hands-on laboratory skills thanks to a new training programme launched by Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q).

The students spent a week working in WCM-Q’s state-of-the-art laboratories learning key practical skills from the college’s world-class biomedical research faculty on the Young Scientist Journey to Research programme.

The programme is open to Qatari nationals and long-term residents aged 18 and over who are college students. It is comprised of four training workshops covering essential laboratory techniques in biomedical research. They are principles of cell culture; protein extraction, separation and detection using the Western blot method; fluorescence imaging and confocal microscopy, and the basics of cloning and bacterial transformation. In addition, the participants learned lab safety protocols, had the chance to conduct scientific experiments under the supervision of WCM-Q lab staff, and gained experience in research data analysis using special formulas and programmes.

The students trained in the laboratories of Dr. Khaled Machaca, professor of physiology and biophysics/senior associate dean for research, innovations, and commercialisation, and Dr. Dietrich Büsselberg, associate dean for admissions/professor of physiology and biophysics.

The programme was the brainchild of Dr Laith Abu Raddad, associate dean for extramural research funding,