Within the framework of its belief in research as the only way to win the fight against cancer, Hospital 57357 is alert to include the latest research specialties , to maintain its distinction and leadership in offering the highest level of healthcare quality to our children.
The Systems Biology lab is the latest scientific specialty in Hospital 57357’s research department. It is considered a cutting edge and valuable addition to the scope of research in Egypt.
About the importance of this new domain, Dr. Ola Sabet, the lead investigator of the lab, reveals: it is an interdisciplinary field that combines physics, biology and mathematics, where mathematical models are set up for the different biological phenomena and are utilized in simulation.
About the addition this science offers, she shares “it is considered a new approach that depends on holistic thinking, through understanding the interaction of cells each other and the surrounding environment(biological environment) and how it affects cellsbehavior. Traditional research stresses on one aspect in cancer studies; but, for example, we don’t know why in some cases the disease is recurrent. Within this specialty, we study the subject from a wider and comprehensive perspective, and we depend mainly on different microscopic imaging techniques as a tool to obtain more comprehensive information about the cell. The more details we know, the more secrets we can unveil about the reasons for the difference in behavior and nature of cells. This would help researchers understand the difference in the cancer cells’ response to chemotherapy, as despite that the patient’s cells have the same DNA, some of them are affected by chemotherapy and die, while other cells survive the chemotherapy.
I am currently collaborating with Dr. Shahenda El-Naggar in a 57357 research study where we try to identify the secret behind the accumulation of produced proteins and their distribution of proteins in some cells; as such, if these cells were to become cancerous cells, the presence of excessive proteins contributes to their survival, growth and resistance to treatment.
The goal of this research is to identify the reason of the presence of this excessive accumulation of proteins, and the reason of the cells’ survival and growth with this accumulation, hoping to reach a way to deal with this scheme and possibly to modify it.
When I met with Dr. Sherif Abouelnaga I felt that 57357 is the ideal place for engaging in research in Egypt. He has foresight, believes in the importance of research and is eager to support it and meet all its needs. He encouraged me to combine between my work at 57357 and in the children’s Hospital in Switzerland aiming to strengthen cooperation with them, added Dr. Sabet.
57357’s research department is distinguished for empowerment of researchers, encouraging free thinking, as Dr. El-Naggar, director of research department, is helping and supporting researchers and enabling them to advance and grow in their respective fields.
Logistical infrastructure and finance are the crucial cornerstones of successful researches activities. One of my professors in Germany used to say; “thinking is low cost but practical implementation and resources management are the problem”. As the management in 57357 have far sighted vision, they started to add distinguished health services for adults for fees to increase the financial resources, as nowhere in the world can survive depending on donations only, especially with the hard economic circumstances the whole world is going through.