Research Focus at the KFSHRC

The King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre has nine Departments, three Centres, and four Programs:

Research Departments:

  • Biomedical Physics - This Department has eight sections and more than 50 professional staff members. Technologies in the Department include TomoTherapy, CyberKnife, TrueBeam, Mobetron, Nucletron HDR, IntraBeam Intraoperative Radiotherapy system, conventional and digital PET/CT systems and several high end CT and MRI systems.
  • Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Scientific Computing - This Department has four sections, including Computer Services Core Facility, Epidemiology Research Group, and Registries Core Facility.
  • Cell Biology - This Department’s projects pertaining to cellular behavior in health and disease are supported through intramural and extramural funding, including diabetes, retinopathy, and xenotransplantation research.
  • Clinical Studies & Empirical Ethics - This Department conducts clinical, pharmacokinetic, and empirical ethics studies and educates and trains research professionals.
  • Comparative Medicine - This Department has sections for Comparative Functional Genomics, Comparative Pathology and Diagnostic Laboratory, Experimental Surgery and Diagnostic Imaging, Laboratory Animal Services, and Organ Transplant Research.
  • Cyclotron & Radiopharmaceuticals - This Department manufactures radiopharmaceuticals and conducts radioisotope research.
  • Genetics - The primary objective of research undertaken in this Department is to identify genes underlying Mendelian diseases, including vision impairment, deafness, craniofacial abnormalities, movement disorders, immunodeficiency, inborn errors of metabolism, Mendelian cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disorders and cognitive disorder, type 2 diabetes, autism, Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis.
  • Infection & Immunity - This Department's sections include immmunocompromised host, microbial pathenogenesis, molecular virology, mycobateriology, and the Journal of Infection in Developing Countries (JIDC) Office.
  • Molecular Oncology - Sections in this Department include breast cancer research, cancer biology and experimental therapeutics, cancer epigenetics, molecular endocrinology, and translational cancer research.

Research Centres:

  • Gulf Centre for Cancer Control & Prevention Research Centre - This organization was created to oversee the implementation of cancer control and prevention strategies in the GCC States.
  • Human Cancer Genomics Research Centre - This Centre has three sections, including Experimental Pathology and Molecular Oncology:, Bioinformatics, and the Biological Repository Center.
  • National Biotechnology Center - This is a joint project between the KFSHRC and the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology; one of the major interests is to translate research discoveries into viable industries through Bioincubators and Spinoffs.

Research Centre Programs:

  • Cardiovascular - This program investigates molecular genetic mechanisms of heart diseases.
  • Stem Cell & Tissue Re-engineering - Currently, the program focuses on stem cell application for therapeutic use in clinical areas including cancer, renal and autoimmune diseases. In the future stem cell research will be incorporated in other diseases including, spinal cord injuries, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative.
  • Environmental Health - This program focuses on three areas, including biomonitoring studies, exposure risk assessment, and biochemical toxicology.
  • Molecular Biomedicine - This program currently focuses on a medically important family of genes associated with regulating mRNA stability and translation which are perturbed as a result of a disease.

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