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Participant 7. American University of Beirut (AUB), Beirut, Lebanon The American University of Beirut (http://www.aub.edu.lb/main/Pages/index.aspx) was founded in 1866 as a private, independent, non-sectarian institution of higher learning, functioning under a charter from the State of New York. AUB has grown from 16 students in a rented house to a major university with over 7,000 students located on a 73-acre campus overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The university is governed by an autonomous Board of Trustees comprised of international leaders in business, education, diplomacy, engineering, philanthropy, science, and medicine. Since its founding, AUB has set standards in higher education worldwide. It is one of the finest universities in the Middle East with an established record of scientific endeavor. Additionally, the university provides a rigorous curriculum in the American liberal arts tradition and the language of instruction is English. Academic programs are offered in undergraduate, graduate, medical, and professional education. The university stresses high academic standards and is committed to the ideals of critical thinking, open debate, and diversity. Initiative for Biodiversity Studies in Arid Regions (AUB-IBSAR)
In 2002, the American University of Beirut started an interfaculty initiative called The Center of Nature Conservation for Sustainable futures, IBSAR (www.ibsar.org) dedicated to nature conservation and its sustainable use through interdisciplinary research, development and knowledge dissemination. The mission of ISBAR is to promote the conservation and sustainable utilization of biodiversity in arid and Mediterranean regions by providing an open academic platform for innovative research and development. The vision of ISBAR is for societies to become guardians and primary beneficiaries of biodiversity in the region. Its objectives are to link biological, ecological, social, economic, and cultural disciplines and to produce new knowledge and publish information that is useful to the society and provides it with direction and tools for effective nature conservation and use. It achieves these objectives by: (i) Conducting basic and applied research, (ii) Guiding policy and legislation, and iii) Exploring and developing economic opportunities for the sustainable use of biodiversity. The Centre has actively partnered with other universities to share knowledge and expertise on research projects that aim at validating the potential therapeutic value of medicinal plants by enhancing the specificity and bioavailability of isolated bioactive molecules. The Center envisages to also addressing pharmacological studies related to product development, and, ultimately, the initiation of clinical trials on products with therapeutic potential. In the current project they propose to expand this program to work towards investigation and conservation of Lebanon's rich marine resources.
Role in the project
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Prof. Marwan El-Sabban (PhD) is Professor of Cell Biology at the Faculty of Medicine at AUB (1997-present), director of the Biological Imaging at the Faculty of Medicine. His training involves protein chemistry, pharmacology, and cancer cell biology at Oxford, Cornell and Einstein, respectively. He has authored over 80 peer-reviewed scientific articles on subjects of cancer and cancer metastasis. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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Prof. Najat A. Saliba, PhD (professor of analytical chemistry) performed her postgraduate research in atmospheric chemistry with Prof. Barbara Finlayson-Pitts at the University of California, Irvine, U.S.A (1999-2001). After returning to Lebanon she led the chemistry research team in IBSAR, where she developed a methodology in the chemical fractionation and structure identification of bioactive components of terrestrial plants. In July 2010, N.A. Saliba was elected the Director of the IBSAR center. Her current research activities span atmospheric and analytical chemistry. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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Prof. Rabih Talhouk (PhD in Physiology and Cell Biology) is Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at the American University of Beirut (1992-present). His post-graduate research was at Lawrence Berkeley National labs and University of California, San Francisco. He was Chair of the Graduate Committee in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He also chaired the Biology Department (1998 - 2001) and has authored more than 45 peer-reviewed scientific articles in the field of cell and molecular biology. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |