Dr. Samir Belhaouari is an Associate Professor at the College of Science and Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He conducts research in various areas, including classification techniques, feature extraction and selection, and data preprocessing. Dr. Belhaouari is developing the multilevel architecture of deep learning (MADL), which optimizes networks at different levels and stages. He has created innovative algorithms for time-frequency decomposition, feature selection, and optimization techniques. Additionally, he explores image and graph representation methods to address complex data challenges and works on compressing deep learning to improve performance while reducing costs and energy consumption.

Additionally, he has developed an enhanced hashing function, drawing inspiration from a mathematical conjecture. His contributions have been recognized through the securing of several national and international research funds, such as HBKU-Thematic and QNRF-NPRP-BSRA. Dr. Belhaouari has served as the principal investigator (PI) and played a significant role in the field of AI. Dr. Belhaouari's work encompasses mathematics, machine learning, data analysis, and classification. His pioneering techniques and algorithms hold great potential for enhancing performance across a wide range of applications.

Dr. Kabir Hassan Biswas joined the College of Health and Life Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University as an Assistant Professor in 2019 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2025. He earned his Master's and PhD through the prestigious Integrated PhD program at the Indian Institute of Science in 2007 and 2011, respectively. He then conducted postdoctoral research at the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University between 2011 and 2019. 

Dr. Biswas’s laboratory takes an interdisciplinary approach, integrating computational methods such as AI/deep learning-based protein design, protein structure-function analysis and drug discovery and experimental techniques such as bioluminescence-based biosensors and biointerfaces with the aim to advance fundamental understanding and developing potential treatment for cancer metastasis, cardiovascular diseases, and infectious diseases. His group is also developing point-of-care tests for health and disease monitoring.

Dr. Biswas has received several competitive research grants, including Academic Research Grant, HBKU Thematic Research Grant, and Industrial Innovation Fund, and has published in high-impact journals such as Science, PNAS, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Nature Communications. He has delivered invited talks at major international conferences and received multiple awards, including the Yamaguchi Medal and the Mrs. C. V. Hanumantha Rao Medal.

Mallika is currently a Business Support Officer at the College of Health And Life Sciences, and she has developed strong management abilities while working in such a dynamic environment. 

Before joining CHLS in 2015, Mallika worked as a Program Assistant at the Executive Education Centre, where she was seconded to HEC Paris in Qatar. She has also worked within the Registrar’s Office and the Provost’s Office at HBKU. Following graduation, she came to Qatar to work as an inflight supervisor for Qatar Airways.

Mallika is active in the community and volunteers her time at local animal shelters. 

Omar Muhammad Khan is an Assistant Professor at the College of Health and Life Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. Dr. Khan completed his Master's in Biochemistry from Karachi University, Pakistan before moving to Sweden where he did a Masters in Molecular Cell Biology from Uppsala University, and then a PhD in the lab of Prof. Martin Bergo, a protein lipidation expert. In Bergo's lab, he identified the biochemical importance of the protein lipidation enzyme GGTase-I in immune cell function. He refuted the popular idea that GGTase-I can be a therapeutic target against inflammatory conditions. 

After finishing his PhD, he moved to The Francis Crick Institute (London) in Dr. Axel Behrens's Lab, where he worked on identifying the posttranslational regulators of a tumor suppressor protein FBW7 and mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in cancer. Dr Khan’s postdoc work highlighted the importance of protein ubiquitylation and protein turnover in colorectal cancer. He found that FBW7 which is a tumor suppressor, is posttranslationally downregulated in several colorectal cancers. These findings challenge the popular belief that only somatic loss of function mutations can contribute to cancer development.

Dr. Hibah Shaath obtained her Bachelor of Science (Hons) and Master of Research (MRes) degrees in Genetics and Genetic Medicine from the University of Manchester. The focus of her MRes was the biomolecular characterization of Keratoconic corneas associated with transplant rejection. In 2013 she moved to Qatar and joined Shafallah Medical Genetics Center, where her main focus was identifying candidate genes with novel mutations associated with both Mendelian hereditary disease and ASD, through homozygosity mapping and family screening, presented in several posters at ARC’13 and ARC’14. In 2014, Dr. Shaath joined QBRI to work as a Research Associate in the Translational Oncology Research Center. In 2022, she completed her PhD in Biomedical and Biological Sciences from the College of Health and Life Sciences (CHLS) at HBKU under the supervision of Dr. Nehad Alajez. Her research focus is on the transcriptional landscape of colorectal cancer and breast cancer for novel biomarker discovery and targeted therapy. Her research was selected for oral presentation at the first Advances in Precision Medicine (APM 2021) conference at HBKU, and in 2022; her poster was selected for Best Poster Award in the student category as the third place winner at HBKU Research Day.

Dr. Emad El-Din Shahin is a professor and former dean of HBKU’s College of Islamic Studies (CIS), Qatar Foundation (2016-2022). Before joining CIS, he was the Hasib Sabbagh Distinguished Visiting Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies, a visiting professor of Political Science at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and the editor-in-chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics. 

Dr. Shahin holds a PhD (1989) from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and an MA (1983) and a BA (1980) from the American University in Cairo. He has taught in leading universities in the United States, including Harvard, Notre Dame, Georgetown, George Washington, and Boston Universities. He also taught at Al-Akhawayn University in Morocco.

His research and teaching interests focus on Islam and Politics, Comparative Politics, Democracy, and Political Reform in Muslim societies. Dr. Shahin has authored, co-authored, and co-edited six books and has more than 50 scholarly publications including journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries. His publications include Political Ascent: Contemporary Islamic Movements in North Africa (1998), co-editorship with Nathan Brown of The Struggle over Democracy in the Middle East and North Africa (2010); and co-authorship of Islam and Democracy (2005 in Arabic). He is the editor-in-chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics (2014) and co-editor with John L. Esposito of The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics (2013); Key Islamic Political Thinkers (Oxford University Press, 2018); and Islam and Politics around the World (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Dr. Shahin was nominated for the Harvard University Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize two years in a row, in May 2007 and May 2008, and is the recipient of the AUC Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award for the Academic Year 2001–2002.

Ilham Yahya Abdi studied at the University of Westminster in London, U.K, where she completed her B.S.c in Biomedical Sciences in 2014, and her M.Sc. in Medical Molecular Sciences in 2015. For her M.Sc. research project, she studied the ‘Regulatory effects of estrogen on microglia function and behavior’. After her studies, Ilham completed a 3-month rotational training program at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) Pathology laboratories in Doha, in January 2018. She then continued her training at HMC were she was involved in a voluntary research internship at the Interim Translational Research Institute (iTRI) that she completed in April 2018. There she worked on various projects involving epidermal inflammation and the effects of various therapeutic agents on cutaneous inflammation under the supervision of Dr. Joerg Buddenkote. 

Ilham joined QBRI in July 2018 as a Research Assistant in Dr. Omar El Agnaf’s team. Her research interests lie in the field of neurological disorders, in particular, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and developing diagnostic tools for them. Her current research project is developing immunoassays and discovering novel biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease and related disorders.

Rim Abdul Kader Bacha is currently studying for a Master's degree in Biomedical and Biological Sciences at the College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences from the College of Health Science, Qatar University. Rim received an honors for her undergraduate research project entitled “Vitamin D deficiency and oxidative stress”. Moreover, during her undergraduate studies, Rim enrolled in the undergraduate research program working on a project entitled “The Association of the Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and Major Depression in Qatar“. Through an internship at Hamad Medical Corporation, Rim has acquired clinical laboratory skills in haematology, immunology and clinical chemistry.

Rim recently joined Dr.Julie Decock’s team as an MSc student, where she will conduct her research work into the mechanistic basis of immune evasion in triple negative breast cancer with a particular focus on the cancer testis antigen PRAME.

Ghaneya Al Khadairi is currently pursuing her PhD in Biomedical and Biological Sciences at the College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University. She holds a BSc in Biomedical Sciences (Qatar University) and completed her MSc in Biomedical and Biological Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in 2017. Ghaneya was awarded a competitive graduate scholarship from the Qatar Research Leadership Program (QRLP) of Qatar Foundation, to pursue her doctoral research work as part of Dr Julie Decock’ s team.

Her PhD work focuses on the cancer testis antigen PRAME, also known as PReferentially expressed Antigen in MElanoma, and its role in the inherent aggressive behavior of triple negative breast cancer by facilitating the acquisition of several hallmarks of cancer. Findings from this project will enable us to assess whether PRAME has potential to be used as a candidate therapeutic target for triple negative breast cancer.

Ms. Asma Elashi received her Bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Qatar University in 2017. Her research work as an undergraduate student was in cancer and her research project entitled, Investigating the effect of PRMT5 on Breast cell proliferation through β-CATENIN target gene expression. Her graduation project focused on molecular and in vitro studies in breast cancer.

Ms. Elashi is currently pursuing her Master’s in biomedical and biological science, at HBKU. She is interested to continue her research in cancer and immunotherapy. Her work now is focused on breast and colorectal cancer, as these cancers result in high mortality worldwide. Ms. Elashi’s research involves gene expression and epigenetic medications of many immune checkpoints and their associations with the aforementioned type of cancers.