Dr. Nagwa El-Badri receives STDF contract for Stem Cell Research Center

Dr. Nagwa El-Badri, Chair of Biomedical Sciences at The University of Science and Technology, received the Science and Technology Development Fund Grant for Centers of Scientific Excellence (STDF-CSE) in a ceremony held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Cairo on Thursday, 23 May. The 10 million EGP grant will go to establishing a Center of Excellence for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine at Zewail City of Science and Technology. The award also provides for a cord blood and tissue bank facility to be established at collaborating institute, Assiut University.

In her opening statement, Minister of Scientific Research Nadia Zakhary congratulated the grant recipients saying that among the 146 proposals presented nationwide since August 2012, only 20 projects were chosen to receive the STDF-CSE contracts, including that presented by Zewail City of Science and Technology.

Sir Magdi Yacoub, a member of the Zewail City Supreme Advisory Board, who was honored during the ceremony, said “Investing money in a community will yield a return of over 100,000 times its value within a period of 20 years”. The founder of the Aswan Heart Center added that “Egypt is very interested in scientific activities as it includes many competencies”.

“Egypt is on the right path towards the institutionalization of research activities,” said Prof. Mostafa Mosaad, Minister of Higher Education. He went on to say that the whole world is now headed towards the institutionalization of research activities and that these Centers of Scientific Excellence are an important step towards this goal.

Following the event, El-Badri said, “This award means we are on track to achieve our goal of spreading knowledge by educating our scientists in state-of-the-art research and stem cell research.”

“We are also on our way towards achieving our goal of establishing collaboration between Zewail City and other Egyptian Universities, including Assiut University,” she added.

The STDF-CSE is a targeted building grant aiming at establishing centers of scientific excellence that serve the development priority areas of Egypt, promoting top-level research , and improving the research quality of Egypt. The grant provides up to 10 million EGP for up to three years.