Global Research Partnerships help establish new Saudi Arabia institute
EMBO Member awarded KAUST GRP Investigator grant

Anna Tramontano, EMBO Member and professor of biochemistry at the University of Rome, La Sapienza in Italy, is one of twelve highly accomplished scientists and engineers in the first round of Global Research Partnerships (GRP) Investigator grants to be awarded by a new institute in Saudi Arabia.

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) plans to become a major contributor to the global research community through the GRP, enabling researchers from around the globe to work together to solve challenging scientific and technological problems. Also envisaged as a mechanism to attract students and faculty of exceptional talent, KAUST hopes the GRP will create a leading research programme for the university and extend scientific knowledge for the benefit of humanity.

More than 60 nominations from 38 institutions qualified for the five-year GRP Investigator grants resulting in the announcement of 12 awardees in March 2008.

Professor Tramontano’s KAUST research – Systems View of Biological Organisms: Computational Approach – will focus on understanding living organisms at the molecular level and on developing methods to accurately simulate how a disease can be controlled or prevented using different techniques. Her findings have the potential to significantly impact human health and biotechnology. She will utilize and advance current understanding of living organisms at the component level as well as available computational tools to understand the integrated and interacting complexity of all these components. As part of her work with KAUST, she will organize Saudi student workshops in conjunction with major conferences to optimize KAUST’s visibility.

The range of GRP research topics includes water desalination, renewable and sustainable next-generation energy sources, genomics of salt-tolerant plants, durable and environmentally friendly construction materials, hydrocarbon utility, low-cost solar cell efficiency, and disease immunization.

For more information about KAUST and the GRP Investigator grants:

www.kaust.edu.sa/research/ global-partnership.aspx

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