Al Jalila Foundation Makes Massive US$4.6 Million Investment In UAE’s First Robotic Biobank

The Al Jalila Foundation, a member of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, is investing US$4.6 million to build a state-of-the-art robotic biobank in partnership with the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) and the Dubai Health Authority (DHA).

Once complete, this will be the UAE’s first robotic biobank, and one of the world’s largest largest biobanks in terms of sample capacity.

The chairperson of the Al Jalila Foundation board of directors and member of the board of trustees, Dr Raja Easa Al Gurg, said: “Biobanking is a game-changer for healthcare and will revolutionise medical research, leading to better outcomes for patient treatment.

Due to the vital role biobanks play in progressing research and advancing medical discovery, the biobank will become an indispensable resource for the new Hamdan Bin Rashid Cancer Charity Hospital and other healthcare facilities in the UAE to conduct research and offer effective treatment.

The CEO of the Al Jalila Foundation, Dr Abdulkareem Sultan Al Olama, added: “Biorepositories are places where you can store patient samples and really serve as a hub of collaboration between scientists for doing either population health studies, or looking at cohorts of patients who have specific diseases, and trying to find better therapeutics and diagnostics to treat patients and save lives.”

Patient confidentiality will be a priority in line with UAE’s laws and regulations. The biological and medical data will be used by scientists for research to make new discoveries about common and life-threatening diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke in order to improve public health.

The UAE’s first robotic biobank will attract strategic collaboration opportunities with key healthcare authorities and partners across the region and globally.