Research Highlights

January 2021 The Sharjah Astronomical Observatory at the Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology (SAASST) of the University of Sharjah monitored and analyzed the exoplanet (HAT-P-9b) during the month of January. This as part of its periodic observations of the exoplanets that began in 2018. The results of these observations are published periodically on global websites specialized in this field of astronomical research. Researcher Mohammed Fadil Talafha, an astronomer who specializes in observing the exoplanets, added that the observed exoplanet is similar to Jupiter. It has a mass of 78% of the mass of Jupiter, but it is on the other hand larger, equivalent to 140% of the size of Jupiter, and this means that it is less dense. Due to its size being close to the size of Jupiter, it is included in the series of exoplanets called Hot Jupiters, as it is very close to its host star. Despite its large size compared to the planets of our solar system, which is characterized by the distance between its planets and from the Sun as well, this planet is very close to its sun – the distance between it and its star does not exceed 8 million kilometers. If we compare it to Earth, whose distance from the Sun reaches 150 million kilometers, then it is considered very close to the host star. The temperature of this type of exoplanets reaches one thousand kelvin, hence the name Hot Jupiters. This planet orbits its star very quickly, as it ends its year in less than four days.

January 2021 Professor Nabil Sulaiman, Chair of Family and Community Medicine and Behavioral Sciences Department, University of Sharjah received a research grant from Al Jalila Foundation for his Diabetes Research study to fight the disease. He is leading a pioneering local research study ‘All new diabetics in Sharjah & Ajman [ANDISA]: An epidemiological and genetic study toward individualized medicine (phase II)’ to find answers. This study aims to enroll new diabetic patients aged 13 to 65 years in Sharjah and Ajman to collect basic, clinical, genetic and immunological data from a newly diagnosed population of diabetics to improve diagnostic categorization rates and develop personalized treatment.

January 2021 The Sharjah Astronomical Observatory, at the Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST) of the University of Sharjah, discovered two new asteroids within 11 observed in the Asteroid Belt. This in collaboration with the Pan-Starrs Telescope in the United States of America that is specialized in searching for and discovering asteroids and comets. Announcing this was His Excellency Prof. Hamid M.K. Al Naimiy, Chancellor of the University of Sharjah, SAASST General Director, and President of the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences. His Excellency added that Mr. Mohammed Talafha, Observer at SAASST's Sharjah Astronomical Observatory, discovered the two asteroids while participating in the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) to analyze hundreds of astronomical images and data the IASC supplies to scientists around the world.

23 January 2021 Dr. Zafar Said and his colleagues from the Department of Sustainable and Environmental Engineering published a research paper titled: “Recent advances on nanofluids for low to medium temperature solar collectors: energy, exergy, economic analysis and environmental impact” in a journal with impact factor of 28.938 coming second in ranking after Nature.

29 December 2020 The WIT Winter Webinar on "Architecture and Urban Planning for Eco-Sustainable Cities," broadcasted on December 16th 2020, presented the top four papers at the Wessex Institute Conference. Dr. Iman Ibrahim, Assistant Professor of Interior Design, presented her research titled “Sustainable Cities Indices in Modern Architecture: A Comparative Study.” The presentation reviewed the ongoing efforts to adopt sustainable practices in Arab cities. Dr. Ibrahim applied the UN principles on Sustainable Cities focusing on the UAE. Two projects were considered: Sharjah Sustainable City (SSC) and Dubai Sustainable City (DSS).

1 January 2021 After more than three years of hard work and great efforts, Dr. Ghazi Al-Khateeb published the first edition of his book with 1080 pages in two volumes: Volume I “Traffic and Pavement Engineering” and Volume II “Highway Planning, Survey, and Design” by the international publisher Taylor and Francis Group / CRC Press. The book presents engineering concepts, techniques, practices, principles, standard procedures, and models that are applied and used to design and evaluate traffic systems. As well as road pavement structures, alternatives of transportation systems, roadway horizontal and vertical alignments to ultimately achieve safety, sustainability, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

23 November 2020 Dr. Jibran Sualeh Muhammad from the College of Medicine and Prof. Mawieh Hamad from College of Health Sciences (Iron Biology Research Group) published a research paper in a high impact Q1 (SJR) medical Journal. In their study, they reported a novel link between estrogen-induced epigenetic modulation of YAP1 in breast cancer cells. Results from this study further enhance our understanding of the carcinogenic effects of estrogen and estrogen receptor-mediated signals in regulating breast cancer. Paper: Muhammad JS, et al. Estrogen-induced hypomethylation and overexpression of YAP1 facilitate breast cancer cell growth and survival. Neoplasia 2021 Jan; 23(1): 68-79., DOI: 10.1016/j.neo.2020.11.002.

24 November 2020 Mina Al Ani, PhD student in Molecular Medicine, was selected as one of the winners in the Post-Doctorate Researchers and PhD Students categories of the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Middle East Regional Young Talents Program for her research on new therapeutic modality for mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) using Herceptin (trastuzumab).

17 November 2020 The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies participated in the J-WEL MIT workshop on Success Factors in University and Industry Collaboration. The attendees included Prof Maamar Bettayeb, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies; Prof Rifat Hamoudi, College of Medicine; Dr. Chaouki Ghenai, Chairman of the Research Funding Department; Dr. Mohammed Hemairy, Head of Technology Transfer Office; and Dr. Manar Abu Talib, Chair of Research Outreach Department. This interactive workshop led by Dr. Lars Frølund – Research Director at the MIT Innovation Initiative and Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management – discussed success factors and the Canvas Learning Platform while including some group work activities. The workshop ended with a talk from the guest speaker Dr. Max Riedel Head of ZEISS Innovation Hub @KIT.

Prof. Mohammad Obaidat, Dean of the College of Computing and Informatics, was invited to participate as Keynote Speaker in the 2020 5th International Conference on Computing, Communication and Automation (ICCCA 2020). Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad in Romania & Galgotias University in India jointly organized this Conference where Prof. Obaidat will discuss the topic “New Biometric Schemes for Risk-Based Authentication in Web Environment”.

November 2020 Dr. Hafsa Khurshid, College of Sciences, receives a 210,000-dirham grant for her research project: “A novel, non-Invasive, and rapid diagnostic for Covid-19 using magnetic particle spectroscopic technology.” The proposed platform is expected to detect ultralow concentrations of targeted SARS-CoV-2 proteins, namely the nucleoprotein and the spike protein, and can be employed as rapid, sensitive, and wash-free magnetic immunoassays

November 2020 Incorporating AI into medical imaging could lead to significant advances in the practice of radiology. A team of researchers led by PhD Mohammed Mahmoud Abuzaid, conducted a survey to test the level of knowledge radiologists and radiographers have about AI. The questionnaire was distributed to 272 participants to explore their knowledge, perception, and readiness regarding integrating AI into radiology practice. Of the 272 invited participants, 153 responded; of these, 77.8% were radiographers and 22.2% were radiologists.