Manchester academics attend British Council symposium in Saudi Arabia

09 May 2017

Faculty academics have attended a British Council symposium on genomics and precision medicine in Saudi Arabia.

L-R: Dr Janine Lamb, Professor Gareth Evans and Dr Ang Davies at the Symposium

The aim of the event at King Saud University in Riyadh was to develop collaborations between the Gulf countries and the UK.

Associate Dean for Internationalisation, Professor Keith Brennan, arranged for the Faculty delegation that included Professor Gareth Evans and Dr Ang Davies from the Division of Evolution and Genomic Sciences and Dr Janine Lamb from the Division of Population Health, Health Services Research and Primary Care to attend the event.

The symposium offered an opportunity to highlight the Faculty’s range of experience in genomic research, teaching and translation into the clinic

Dr Davies explains: “Marriages where people have the same ancestor are common in the Gulf countries and therefore carrier rates of some recessive genetic conditions are very high in many of the countries.

“Developing teaching in the area of genomic medicine and genetic counselling was of interest to many of the universities.”

There have subsequently been fruitful follow-up discussions about teaching and research and the Manchester team hope to create long-term collaborations in the Gulf countries.