The Bio Bank of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences Is to Be Operationalized

The head of Cancer Surgery Research Center of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Mohsen Aliakbarian, spoke of operationalizing Bio Bank with the collaboration of Cancer Surgery Research Center and said: there has been a good cooperation with the university and Cancer Research Center to operationalize this institute to use Bio Bank texture samples in basic cancer studies.

According to WebDa, in a report presented on the programs and attempts performed in cancer surgery research center in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Aliakbarian said: the affiliation of this center to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences was approved and enacted on March 20^th 2010. It is now working with 36 educational faculty members and one full time research faculty member.

 The head of Cancer Surgery Research Center stated: among the 35 full time educational faculty members of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences that are cooperating with this center, 25 members have been active involvement, sent proposals and presented articles. Most of these articles are published and accordingly elevate the scientific status of the university.

31 Research Plans Are Being Executed in Cancer Research Center

Dr. Aliakbarian asserted: in Cancer Surgery Research Center, about 31 research plans are being performed which are not finished yet. Since 2010, a total of 135 articles are published by faculty members.

The head of Cancer Surgery Research Center added: besides two research experts, student research committee is also active, in which the students independently choose their research designs and perform them with the supervision and cooperation of the faculty members.

Dr. Aliakbarian averred: this research center has been able to receive approval from the Ministry of Heath, Hygiene and Medical Education. This is while Cancer Surgery Research Center has also possessed the necessary condition to receive the final enactment. Though with current restrictions, the Development Council did not provide this opportunity for us.

He spoke of the rank achieved by Cancer Surgery Research Center among other research centers in the country and said: among other peer research centers working clinically on scientific production in the country, we achieved rank 9, and are seeking to further elevate our status.

The head of Cancer Surgery Research Center continued to say: this success would be more meaningful knowing that this center is in the top 10 in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences among 54 research centers that are currently active in this university.

Dr. Aliakbarian stated: last year also, 25 research designs were performed in this research center. Hence we have been able to execute very good research plans.

Speaking of the underlying purpose of establishing this Cancer Surgery Research Center, he said: this research center is established with the purpose of proceeding studies in the scope of all kinds of cancers particularly those that are more prevalent in this region.

The head of Cancer Surgery Research Center added: we specifically work on esophagus and stomach cancers and others such as breast cancer and gastrointestinal cancers. Though our activities are not restricted to cancer research.

“We also work on the scope of surgery related issues, though the major activities are concerned with cancer and cancer-related sciences”, he said.

Emphasizing scientific production in research centers, he asserted that: a concern along with this issue is the budget allocated to doing research. That is, how much budget do we receive for all the efforts we put in doing research?

The head of Cancer Surgery Research Center said: usually, there is a budget of 11,500 dollars for clinical research centers with which only two big research projects can be performed.

Dr. Aliakbarian averred: of course we must keep in mind that research centers per se have created a very good coherence and harmony among the members to put together their various experiences as the pieces of a puzzle to harmonize faculty members, researchers in various levels, methodologists, and research experts.

Creating Kidney Transplant Registry in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences

Speaking of the successes achieved in Cancer Surgery Research Center, he said: regarding the registry, there has been very good efforts in this center; for instance, kidney transplant registrywhich is recorded in the university and currently has independent budget.

The head of Cancer Surgery Research Center highlighted that: the second success we achieved in this center is about those research plans that are presented in the university through this center and are known as successful and prioritizing plans for which we received enactment and budget from the university and are currently attempting to promote those sciences.

As Dr. Aliakbarian puts it, the benefit of research centers is assembling scholars, researchers, methodologists and scientifically active students. In these institutes, we can easily find those who are diligently working at scientific scopes. Therefore, there is no further need to create particular conditions under which these individuals gather together.

Regarding the necessary financial budget to promote a research institute, he said: in case the research institutes receive an independent budget, there would be no need to have an eye on faculty members and researchers’ grants, and greater successes would surely be achieved.

He pointed out that: if we suppose that research institutes are the driving force of research, they must have independent budget and use this budget according to the directives of their own Central Council.

Highlighting the presence of research faculty members in research institutes along with scientific production, he asserted: in the first five years of proceeding its activities, this center didn’t have any research faculty members. Though there has been no specific policy on the part of the university to allocate faculty members to all of its research centers. The assumption was that research faculty members must only be allotted to clinical research centers of the university. Accordingly, this research center only has one full time research faculty member.

Speaking of the fact that educational faculty members of this research center are highly occupied, he stated: the major duty of these individuals is firstly concerned with education, secondly treatment and thirdly doing research. While 90% of their potential goes for treatment, 9% for education and only 1% for research.

“Research centers must have collect their data through research faculty members, student research committee and PhD students, and then attempt to prepare the final outcome i.e. the research article”, added Dr. Aliakbarian.

The Articles of Cancer Surgery Research Centers Get Published in Credible Journals

In the final part of his interview, he said: according to the evaluations of the Ministry of Health, Hygiene and Medical Education in 2014, Cancer Surgery Research Center achieved the highest score as far as scientific production index. Research articles of this center are published in credible international journals outside the country.

The head of Cancer Surgery Research Center stated: in 2014, the most recent year of research center evaluations by the ministry of Health, Hygiene and Medical Education, the total score of this center has been 1234.83. The highest portion of the score, i.e. 550.57 is for articles published in international journals outside the country, and 267.24 scores for articles citations.

Dr. Aliakbarian added: this year, there have been 25 articles published in international journals outside the country; 6 articles are published with the cooperation of foreign researchers; 18 articles are extracted out of theses; 20 articles presented in international conferences and seminars out of the country; 11 article are presented in seminars and conferences inside the country; there are 50 citations to the name of this research center, and 16 articles are published in journals inside the country.

He considered the Bio Bank as a new working platform for Cancer Surgery Research Center, and asserted: the Bio Bank-related executive works are being undertaken in the university. Though as a major source of providing texture items in the scope of cancers in this bank, Cancer Surgery Research Center has close collaboration with the university.

Looking forward to operationalize the Bio Bank as soon as possible, the head of Cancer Surgery Research Center pointed out that: Cancer Surgery Research Center has built a very good collaboration with the university hoping to be able to use texture samples for basic studies in the scope of cancer as soon as this bank starts to work.

It Is Essential to Decrease the Gap between Clinical and Basic Research Centers

Dr. Aliakbarian said: a solvable challenge in research centers that would be considerably favorable in promoting research centers is building closer ties between basic and clinical research centers and decreasing the gap between them.

“Unfortunately, in current research structure, these two groups are working separately and widely apart. This total independence is not favolable”, he averred.

The head of Cancer Surgery Research Center asserted: we would work more successfully if the university can make a closer bound between these two groups, and if basic science researchers can benefit from clinical concepts as they have more opportunities at hand; therefore, the final outcome would serve for the promotion of research and welfare in the country.

It Is Essential for the Research centers to Pay Attention to Endemic and Local Diseases

As the head of Cancer Surgery Research Center put it, the second point which is helpful in the promotion of research centers is paying exclusive attention to endemic and local diseases. In some cases, these diseases are neglected in the country. Our researchers must allocate great deal of time, energy and effort to investigate those diseases for which there are no entities in western countries as they are local to this region and our country.

In the end, Dr. Aliakbarian said: the Ministry of Health, Hygiene and Medical Education and the Research Administration must allocate a befitting budget to local research and investigations to motivate and attract the researchers to local concerns and issues.