Pakistan’s first Immunology Lab opened at SIUT

KARACHI: Country’s first clinical transplant immunology laboratory aimed to bring advancement in the field of transplant sciences was inaugurated at Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) here on Thursday.

Prof Medhat Askar who is an internationally acclaimed transplant immunologist inaugurated the newly established laboratory. Which will focus on the subject of tissue typing, detection of antibodies, transplant of highly sensitized incompatible transplants thereby helping those patients whose transplant is often not possible?

Prof Medhat is the Director of Transplant Immunology Center at the at the prestigious Baylor University of Dallas-Texas. Earlier took part in a memorial lecture organized in memory of Dr Qasim Mehdi of SIUT where he focused on the importance of continued medical education and training in the field of transplant sciences both in clinical and medical research sectors.

The topic of his lecture was “Two birds with One Stone” which also discussed the emerging trends in field transplantation including application of pharmacogenomics as a tool for precise transplant medicine. His lecture was followed by question-answer session.

Paying tributes to late Dr Qasim Mehdi during the memorial lecture the founder Director of SIUT Prof Adib Rizvi recalled Dr Mehdi’s yeomen services during his stay at SIUT. He pointed out that he was a prominent member of World Human Genome project of the region who performed pioneering work on evolutionary genetics in Pakistan.

Dr Shagufta Khaliq who had a long association with Dr Qasim Mehdi gave a laudatory citation and recounted his achievements in the field of genetics and diversity of genes in Pakistani population.