The National Grid SA, a subsidiary of the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the Strategic Partnerships Project with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL), an American corporation. Under the agreement, SEL will provide training programs and courses to Saudi scholarship grantees in Washington, especially those specialized in engineering, energy, IT and electricity. The move is part of the company’s social responsibility program to serve Saudi society and citizens inside the country and abroad.
Laith Al-Bassam, CEO of National Grid SA, said a large number of Saudi scholarship grantees in Washington University have benefited from such advanced courses and programs in the past 18 months. He said the training courses are conducted at centers and headquarters of SEL that are equipped with the latest technologies according to each field. Experiential training is conducted at the labs of the company and attended by students and researchers from different nationalities to exchange experience.
“Through the Strategic Partnerships Project, these programs are developed to provide more specialized technical and technological training to Saudi scholarship grantees with the aim to transfer modern technologies and sciences in various fields to Saudi Arabia through its citizens as part of the Vision 2030 of the Kingdom. They seek to take advantage of the presence of the scholarship grantees in these countries and in close proximity to such international corporations to apply academic sciences and conduct hands-on training at specialized centers and sites,” he added.
Al-Bassam said the training programs include general courses in the field of electricity and engineering, as well as specialized courses such as the 35-hour course in power-system protection. An intensive course will be launched for scholarship grantees at the beginning of next January, which will last for 15 weeks.
Al-Bassam said that the agreement concluded with the American company is among a number of strategic partnership agreements signed with global corporations and institutions in numerous countries in the electricity sector. He said the project will expand soon to include other states in the US and European countries such as Germany and France, in addition to Asian countries such as China, South Korea and Japan.
National Grid SA inks deal with US company to train Saudi students
National Grid SA inks deal with US company to train Saudi students
Jameel Research project at MIT tackles antimicrobial resistance
Jameel Research, part of Abdul Latif Jameel International network, is sponsoring a research project in the Department of Biological Engineering and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, aimed at tackling the global public health crisis of antimicrobial resistance.
This ambitious, multi-disciplinary project is led by Professor James J. Collins, Termeer professor of medical engineering and science at MIT and faculty lead for life sciences at the MIT Jameel Clinic, the epicenter of artificial intelligence and health at MIT.
The project, spanning at least three years, will leverage the Collins’ lab’s cutting-edge strengths in synthetic biology and AI to create next-generation diagnostics.
The growing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant superbugs and a declining antibiotic pipeline has led to a global public health crisis. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has predicted some 2 million infections and 23,000 deaths occur each year in the US alone, costing $55 billion. The World Bank predicts that up to $100 trillion of economic output may be at risk by 2050. The UK government-commissioned Review on Antimicrobial Resistance is projecting more than 10 million deaths worldwide per year by 2050 if the crisis is not addressed.
Professor Collins and his team at MIT are setting out to develop the next generation of antibacterials and rapid diagnostics to overcome AMR — using synthetic biology and advanced generative AI to deliver faster results and help control the use of antibiotics to where they can be effective.
With support from Jameel Research, the first phase of this project will develop and validate programmable antibacterials to overcome AMR in a range of bacterial pathogens. These AI-designed minibinders will be delivered by engineered microbes to neutralize key toxins and protein targets.
This directed design and engineering approach to antibiotic development technology advances a long-term vision to create programmable antibacterials to address the AMR crisis. This would then offer the potential for the more rapid development of medical countermeasures to emerging and re-emerging pathogens and a swifter response to future outbreaks and pandemics.
Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, KBE, chairman of Abdul Latif Jameel, said: “Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most urgent challenges we face today and addressing it will require ambitious science and sustained collaboration. We are pleased to support this new research, building on our long-standing relationship with MIT and our commitment to advancing research across the world, to strengthen global health and contribute to a more resilient future.”
“This project reflects my belief that tackling AMR requires both bold scientific ideas and a pathway to real-world impact,” Professor Collins said. “Jameel Research is keen to address this crisis by supporting innovative, translatable research at MIT.”
Jameel Research is advancing the work of pioneering pathfinders to create an extraordinary impact on a global scale.
This initial project holds the promise of rapidly developing medical countermeasures for emerging and re-emerging pathogens, offering a rapid response to future outbreaks and pandemics.
The new research project builds on the close and long-standing relationship between MIT and the Jameel family. This includes the MIT Jameel Clinic, which was co-founded in 2018 by MIT and Community Jameel, the international nonprofit organization founded by Mohammed Jameel, KBE, to advance science and learning for communities to thrive, and one of the Jameel family’s philanthropies.
