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education
Four research projects
win His Majesty’s grants
SATURday, MAY 15, 2010
His Majesty’s Trust Fund
Strategic Research
Projects — 2010
 Studies deal with health, agriculture, the environment and educational concerns
 Quality improvements expected in the respective fields
mental impact associated with antifouling
protection in the Sultanate .
Research on soil-borne
pathogenic fungi
H
Shift from traditional to hydroponic cultivation needs more study
is Majesty’s Royal grants bestowed on Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in 2000 are among the
most important sources which support the
university’s research programmes whose
long-run results will hopefully lead to
excellent technological advancements
and economic benefits to the nation.
Academics from all SQU Colleges annually compete for these royal grants by
submitting research proposals on health,
engineering, agriculture, the environment,
education, science and arts. This year four
research projects have been funded. This
makes the number of strategic research
projects supported from the royal grant of
RO 500,0000 (starting from 2001) forty
seven.
This year’s four winning projects deal
with health, agriculture, the environment,
and education.
Dr Allal Ouhtit of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences deals with breast
cancer among Omani women.
Dr Sergey Dobretsov, of the College of
Agriculture and Marine Sciences, examines the economic, social, and environmental impacts of biofouling on Oman.
Dr Abdullah al Sadi, also of the College of Agriculture and Marine Sciences,
identifies and describes potential sources
of soil-borne plant pathogenic fungi on
Omani farms.
Professor Maher Abu Hilal, of the
College of Education, assesses the performance of government school teachers
throughout the Sultanate.
Selection Mechanism
Saif Al Sinani, Director of the Scientific Research Department in the Deanship
for Scientific Research, says that this year
the Department received nine research
proposals from all SQU Colleges related
to health, agriculture, the environment,
marine and economic sciences, education, and tourism. Selection depended on
the recommendations of three bodies: ex-
This year the Department received nine research
proposals from all SQU Colleges. Selection depended on
the recommendations of three bodies: external specialist
referees from prestigious international universities outside
the Sultanate; concerned governmental bodies which
strategically assessed their significance and contribution
to the Sultanate’s economic and social development; and
SQU’s Research Council formed by the vice-chancellor
ternal specialist referees from prestigious tastasis, particularly the CD 146 receptor
international universities outside the Sul- known as a promoter of various tumours.
tanate; concerned governmental bodies
which strategically assessed their significance and contribution to the Sultanate’s
economic and social development; and
SQU’s Research Council formed by the
vice-chancellor. The principal investigator then gave a presentation explaining
objectives, methods , and expected results
of the project and its role in supporting the
research efforts in the Sultanate. Accordingly, based on the recommendations of
the three bodies, the successful projects
were finally selected.
Research on breast cancer
Dr Ouhtit’s research project is of strategic importance to Oman since it deals
with breast cancer, (a disease increasing
among Omani females), through the study
and analysis of gene expression in breast
tumours leading to biomarkers/candidate
gene discovery. Dr Ouhtit believes that
breast cancer is the most common cancer in Omani females with a particular
tendency to affect younger women. He
adds that his study aims to understand the
unique disease processes associated with
metastasis. It begins by focusing on understanding the mechanisms by which cell
adhesive molecules (CAMS) initiate me-
Imported soil-borne plant pathogens bring funga diseases unknown to Omani farmers
Microscopic image showing breast cancer cells
Dr Allal Ouhtit
Previous studies have shown that CD 146
acts as a suppressor of breast cancer metastasis. Therefore, the present study takes
advantage of this unique suppressive feature of CD146 and seeks to determine its
underlying mechanisms, using microarray
analysis to identify its downstream transcriptional target genes.
Research on marine biofouling
Dr Sergey Dobretsov
Dr Dodrestov’s project tries to find solutions for marine biofouling (the undesirable growth of micro- and macro-organisms on man-made surfaces) which causes
enormous problems for the maintenance
of ships, boats, fishing nets, cages and desalination plants. Worldwide, countries are
spending more than $5 billion per year to
fight biofouling. Usually, biofouling can
be prevented by using toxic compounds
that kill non-target organisms and accumulate in the marine environment. While
biofouling is causing a serious impact on
all industries in the Sultanate (clogging
the pipes and membranes of desalination
plants, decreasing speed and increasing
corrosion in vessels, damaging fishing nets
etc) we are still far from developing an effective strategy to prevent this happening.
This project will investigate biofouling
communities present in different locations
of Oman during different seasons and
analyse current antifouling methods and
their environmental consequences. This
should enable researchers to suggest best
practices to reduce the costs and environ-
Dr Al Sadi’s research tries to find
ways of preventing the transmission of
soil-borne pathogenic fungi onto Omani
farms.
Soil-borne fungal pathogens can attack
seeds in the soil and kill them or attack
emerging seedlings and mature plants and
cause wilting and subsequent death. This
has involved an excessive use of chemicals which results in hazards to humans
and the environment.
This predicament is due to the continuous introduction of new or increasingly aggressive soil-borne pathogens
into Oman from abroad via unknown
channels. Investigations in recent years
Dr Abdullah al Sadi
have revealed the introduction of new
pathogens into Oman that previously did
not occur here. Although over 100 different types of potting mixtures and organic
fertilisers are imported from abroad and
used by growers, little is known about
their role in the dissemination of fungal
pathogens. In addition, apart from efforts
by quarantine officers to screen samples,
the lack of appropriate, fast and reliable
screening techniques for discovering fungal contamination in potting mixtures and
organic fertilisers represents a challenge
to successful detection of contaminated
products at the country’s borders.
Dr Al Sadi goes on to say that the other
challenge is related to the recurrence of
soil-borne diseases in fallow soil or cultivated soil following chemical treatment.
Starting with new fields with no previous
history of cultivation (fallow soil) is a preferable choice for vegetable producers in
different parts of the world. Alternatively,
growers replace the top layer of cultivated
soil with fallow soil imported from outside
the farm or fumigate the cultivated soil to
kill microorganisms in it. The recurrence
of soil-borne diseases in fallow soil and
treated soil raises questions concerning
factors contributing to re-introduction of
soil-borne pathogens into farms and subsequent increased levels of diseases in soil
with no previous history of cultivation. It
is therefore not clear whether irrigation
water, equipment or any of the grower’s
practices might contribute to increased
levels of disease on their farms.
Dr Al Sadi concludes by saying that another project objective is to help in the development or selection of proper screening
tools or methods to be used by quarantine
officers over the long term for assessing
the channels in which plant pathogens enter Oman. Knowledge of potential sources
of fungi and the way by which they circulate on farms should provide valuable
information to underpin the development
of integrated disease management strategies which include preventing fungi being
introduced into farms.
Prof Amer bin Ali al Rawas, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Postgraduate
Studies and Research
W
e celebrated our 10th University Day on May 2 2010 commemorating
the historical visit of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos that opened a new and
important avenue of research funding at Sultan Qaboos University. Following our tradition, we announced the award of His Majesty’s Trust Fund (HMTF)
Grants to four strategic research projects.
These are:
1. “Economical, social and environmental impacts of marine biofouling in the
Sultanate of Oman”, is a project that investigates biofouling caused by the
undesirable growth of micro- and macro-organisms on man-made surfaces in
the marine ecosystem and its impact on Oman environment, industries and
economy.
2. “Quality of teachers in public schools of the Sultanate of Oman” is designed
to study and evaluate teaching competencies, attitude to teaching and other
attributes related to the quality of teachers employed in the public schools of
Oman.
3. “Potential sources of soil-borne plant pathogenic fungi into farms in Oman” is
an investigation of importance to the production of vegetable crops in Oman.
It aims to study the potential sources of disease causing fungal pathogens and
develop or select screening tools for plant quarantine officers to prevent the
entry of fungal pathogens into Oman.
4. “From gene expression analysis of Omani breast tumours to biomarkers/candidate gene discovery” is a medical project that seeks to understand the disease processes associated with metastasis in breast cancer, a common disease
of young Omani females. It aims to increase the patient’s quality of life and
chance for long time survival through the development of early detection methods and cancer therapies.
All these projects are multidisciplinary and are of strategic importance to the
Sultanate and its people. These projects will generate new knowledge and discoveries leading to substantial socio-economic benefits to the Omani society in the long
run. We expect that our researchers will obtain major results and identify direct
benefits to prospective users. We also believe that these projects will substantially
contribute to the infrastructure development and capacity building at the University
in addition to making a significant contribution to the advancement of academic
programmes.
Finally, I would like to congratulate the Principal Investigators of these research
projects Dr Sergey Dobretsov (Marine Sciences), Prof Maher M Abu Hilal Education), Dr Abdullah Al Sadi (Crop Sciences) and Dr Allal Ouhtit (Genetics) for winning these prestigious grants and wish them success in their research endeavours.
sume that there are many highly qualified mendations by assessment experts have
teachers in Oman, but because of a lack of emphasised the need to use a variety of
proper assessment methods, it is difficult standards in teacher assessment. Thus, the
study has adopted a number of assessment
tools besides the student, principal, and
supervisor reports. The study will last for
three years. In the first year the stability
and credibility of assessment measures
will be verified through an intelligence
test, a test of teachers’ attitudes towards
teaching, a test of teachers’ basic skills,
self-efficacy, burnout, and cognitive ability. In the first year, teachers will also be
trained in collecting data and applying
assessment tools. In the second year assessment variables will be applied in the
evaluation of teachers and students; and
in the third year the evaluation process
will be completed and the data will be entered into the computer and analysed usProfessor Maher Abu Hilal
ing structural equation modeling (SEM)
to determine which of the variables best
to identify them or their specialisations.
predicts teacher quality. Finally, the study
Abu Hilal goes on to say that recom- team will write the project’s final report.
Research on quality of government
school teachers
Dr Abu Hilal’s study tries to assess
the quality of government school teachers throughout the Sultanate in order to
establish/construct a quality educational
system . He says that the study has been
motivated by the quality assurance demands which have become a social and
official requirement. Since Omani students, like those across the Arab world, do
not only compete with their fellow Omani
students , but with students from all over
the world, it has become imperative that
their education and achievement correlate
with international standards. Moreover,
it has become essential to identify factors which upgrade teachers’ performance
and ensure its quality. We can safely as-
Finding a secure way to solve marine biofouling in
Omani waters: an urgent necessity