Texas Tech University

Tech professor to assist government of Sri Lanka

Dr. Naima Moustaid-Moussa was invited by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Research; and the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka to participate in a planning meeting for an International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology IICGEB) Regional Research Center in Sri Lanka.

The meeting took place in Colombo in November 2017. Dr. Moustaid-Moussa serves as Cluster co-leader for the nutrigenomics area, along with Dr. Nishan Kalupahana, professor and chair of Physiology at the University or Peradeniya, and adjunct professor in Nutritional Sciences at TTU.


Dr. Naima Moustaid-Moussa

Picture with the Sri Lanka's Minister of Science Technology and Research, Italian leaders from the ICEGB and SLIBTEC planning committee

The planning team worked with NSF-Sri Lanka to develop a proposal for Sri Lanka Institute of Biotechnology (SLIBTEC). SLIBTEC will serve as a centralized Biotech Innovation Hub for agricultural, medical and industry research, and will be dedicated to biotech research, development and innovation for economic development in Sri Lanka.

Dr. Moustaid-Moussa will continue to serve as Planning committee member and cluster co-leader for SLIBTEC, throughout its construction and research development.

Dr. Moustaid-Moussa also visited Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI) and Qatar Computing Research Institute in Doha, in November 2018 as part on new collaborations related to obesity and diabetes in Qatari populations, and studies in animal models of obesity and diabetes. She was recently approved for research funding as part of this collaboration from QBRI.