Singapore: The Japanese Preventive Medicine & Diagnosis Innovation Program (RIKEN-PMI) has announced a collaboration with Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI). The partnership aims to foster and accelerate new initiatives in preventive and personalized medicine in both countries.

The collaboration marks the first tie-up between Japan and Qatar on biomedical research and personalized healthcare. As per the terms, RIKEN-PMI will provide training and transfer of knowledge and technologies related to genomics and transcriptomics for application in the context of diagnostics and personalized medicine.

QBRI said that the joint laboratories and hospital-based programs will help the Qatar Foundation to 'build Qatar's innovation and technology capacity by improving and transforming healthcare through research in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases'.

The first project after the collaboration aims to develop innovative solutions for breast cancer-Qatar's most common form of cancer. The project will harness RIKEN's genomic technology to produce and characterize genomic cancer signatures, enabling new biomarker discovery and the development of personalized treatments targeted to unique molecular features of tumor sub-groups.

Dr Hilal Lashuel, executive director, QRBI, said, "The partnership offers unique opportunities for the molecular study of cancer and familial patterns of disease in Qatar. We aim to develop Qatar as the hub for genomic research and personalized medicine, using partnerships with leading research and healthcare institutions."