The College of Pharmacy at the University of Basrah organized an advanced scientific workshop titled "NCBI Database: A New Approach for Molecular Research in Cancer and Vaccines," aimed at enhancing postgraduate students' proficiencies in bioinformatics.
The workshop featured a comprehensive lecture delivered by Professor Dr. Abdulilah Abdulhussain Sahin. He detailed the optimal utilization of the NCBI database, a comprehensive platform that houses vast molecular genetic information concerning the genomes of all classified living organisms.
The lecture highlighted an innovative scientific research mechanism used to identify shared antigenic proteins between malignant cancer cells or high-risk pathogens and other safely manageable organisms. Dr. Sahin explained how these antigens can be effectively extracted and engineered to serve as potent vaccines against severe pathogenic infections or cancer cells.
The primary objective of the workshop was to practically train postgraduate students on utilizing the NCBI platform alongside the BLAST technique to search for pathogenic proteins. Students were instructed on performing sequence 'ALIGNMENT' with selected organisms to discover protein homology, in addition to exploring the 3D visualization capabilities of protein structures provided by the program.
