King Saud University Scientist Part Of Cancer Breakthrough

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 21 Jul 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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King Saud University professor, Dr. Adel Almogren, along with a diverse team of academic researchers from the United States, Canada, and Taiwan, has discovered a new process that could lead to a vaccine to block cancer cell adhesion and growth.

In the upcoming issue of NeoPlasia, an international oncology research journal, Dr. Almogren and his colleagues describe their efforts to use monoclonal antibodies to block the tumor process and increase cancer survival rates. Monoclonal antibodies are produced by one type of immune cell that are clones, or mimics, of a parent cell. Successful Petri dish experiments indicate that vaccinations with these peptide mimics may be able to block a common tumor-causing carbohydrate known as Thomsen-Friedenreich.

Dr. Almogren is an Assistant Professor in the College of Medicine's Pathology Department at King Saud University. He earned his PhD in immunology from the University of Dundee in Scotland and has been on the KSU faculty since 2003. His participation in this scientific breakthrough is indicative of the recent trend of rapid growth in innovation at KSU and throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The university has been aggressively recruiting world-class researchers and ramping up its patenting and technology transfer activities.

To support academic researchers and entrepreneurial students, King Saud University has invested heavily in a wide array of initiatives to include the development of Riyadh Techno Valley, a public-private research park on the edge of campus, and the Riyadh Technology Incubation Center, a program to help university-based startup companies.

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King Saud University

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