Message From The Chairman

Welcome to the Biotechnology research group at King Fahd University of Petroleum and minerals. Biotechnology has made rapid progress over the last quarter of the twentieth century. Much of this success is due to the expectation that the development of new technologies can produce various compounds beneficial to the daily lives of human beings and in preserving the environmental health of the earth. Our efforts are dedicated to elucidating various biological  and medical mechanisms and to determining their utilization in the interests of human welfare. In this regard, various scientific and technical advances in the area of environment, medical and industrial application are currently considered. The group is challenged by the task of creating new technologies and procedures for the production of various materials useful in the fields of medicine and food processing, and for solving the problems of environmental pollution particularly contamination with petroleum hydrocarbons.

The main goal of the research at our group is the application of modern biotechnology methods to the study of both basic questions as well as problems with practical applications. A particularly important activity is biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbon using biotechnological tools. We are also working on isolating new microorganisms (such as thermophilic bacteria) that can produce medicines and other valuable substances, and we make use of gene technology and modern analytical methods to understand and optimize processes in bacteria. In addition to that our group is planning to conduct a research in biomedical area particularly Diabetes in order to identify genetic factors related to individual differences type 2 diabetes in Saudi Arabia population.

Dr. Amjad Khalil

Chairman, Biotechnology Research Group

E-mail: amjadb@kfupm.edu.sa

Office Tel.: +96638607152