From the Scientific Sessions of the Biomedical Engineering Conference on its Second Day

The scientific sessions of the second day of the Biomedical Engineering Conference at Damascus University's auditorium began with four sessions on biomechanics, including ten lectures and a workshop.

The Website of Damascus University covered the first scientific session, where they met with Professor Majd Al-Jamali, the President of the Higher Scientific Research Council. He emphasized the importance of collaboration between biomedical engineering and medical sciences, stating that hybrid sciences are the ones that advance medical services. He explained that those who develop medical sciences are not necessarily doctors, but they can also be engineers or specialists in other sciences. He discussed his participation in the conference, stating that it focused on bioinformatics as he is the founder of the Master's Program in Biological Sciences at the Syrian Virtual University. He highlighted the vast amount of data involved in selecting genetic material that will be cloned and give rise to proteins. It is necessary to organize this data in a database and develop tools for data extraction. This will be beneficial in making appropriate clinical decisions for the development of new drugs and treatments and understanding the mechanisms of various diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and others.

Dr. Lama Youssef, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Damascus University, delivered a scientific lecture titled "Engineering in the Laboratory and in the Properties of the Immune System: Therapeutic Proteins Targeting Cancer." In an interview with the University's website, she explained that the aim of her lecture was to address immune therapy, its engineering, testing, and characterization in glassware and living organisms. She pointed out that cancer remains a significant challenge in all healthcare systems, whether in developed countries or resource-limited ones. Treatment options vary, including surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, but they have not been able to overcome cancer. The number of deaths reached one million in 2022, with 20 million new cases reported. Cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States after coronary artery disease. She added that scientists have focused on developing treatments that minimize their harmful effects, especially since chemotherapy kills both cancer cells and healthy cells, such as bone marrow cells. She discussed targeted therapies, which are based on highly specific antibodies that bind to receptors present on tumor cells, leading to their destruction, known as targeted therapy.

Dr. Lama Youssef presented some of the international treatments approved by the FDA in her lecture. These are protein-based drugs that target the immune system and modulate its response, making it stronger than cancer cells, enabling it to eliminate them. She also mentioned the Nobel Prize awarded to two American and Japanese researchers for their discoveries. She talked about her own experience in manufacturing fused proteins with a fragment of the antibody to give them a longer lifespan. She discussed experiments conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of these proteins on glass or in immunodeficient mice that were injected with the proteins, and the success of the experiment was proven.

It is worth mentioning that the Third International Conference on Biomedical Engineering will continue until Tuesday, featuring scientific research presentations, workshops, special sessions, and virtual sessions for external researchers, accompanied by an exhibition.