Abu Dhabi: The 21st World Congress of the International Society on Toxinology (IST), which was held under the patronage of Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court, in Abu Dhabi, honored Dr. Bruno Lomonte Universidad de Costa Rica, and awarded him the Redi Award. It is an international science award given by IST to scientists, who have made significant contributions in toxinology, the scientific study of venoms, poisons and toxins during its congress that is held every two years.  

Meanwhile, AMSAAL, on the sidelines of the Congress, honored five winners, including two young researchers, and three researchers who published their research in Posters.

In the presence of Dr. Tarek M. Abd El-Aziz, Scientific Director at AMSAAL Company and the Conference Chairman, and Dr. Julian White President of the IST-Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Mohamed Boshta, Chief Operation Officer at AMSAAL Company handed over the certificates of honor to the young researchers.  

The two young researchers, who were honored by AMSAAL are Ernesto Lopes-researcher at the KU Leuven, Belgium, and Senji Laxme Rajini Raghunath-graduate student-Indian Institute of Science, India. While the other three winners of published scientific research are Dr. Rania Baleela at Toxic Organisms Research Centre, Faculty of Science, University of Khartoum and Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Khartoum, Sudan, researcher Gnaneswar Chandrasekharuni, and the PhD researcher Dongchen An. The five winners were honored for the excellence of their research and important results in addition to the excellence in presentation and presentation.

Dr. Julian White, commended the efforts of the winners, especially Dr. Bruno Lomonti, who was honored the Redi Award for his important study he presented during the Congress, which was organized by AMSAAL, the first company of its kind in the Middle East, over five days. The study focused on snake venoms and immunological and biochemical properties of snake venoms and isolated venoms, with special interest in mycotoxins phospholipase A2, as well as antivenoms, antibodies, and venom inhibitors.

Dr. Bruno Lomonte is currently a coordinator of the Protein Laboratory at the University of Costa Rica, where a number of toxicological studies have been conducted on snakes in Central America and other regions in recent years.

The Award is named after its founder the Italian polymath Francesco Redi, whose researches he conducted in 1664 are regarded as the milestone in the beginning of toxinology research. Redi was the first scientist to elucidate the scientific basis of snakebite and venom of the viper.

It is worth mentioning that the Congress was organised by AMSAAL in the collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, Department of Culture and Tourism, and the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company "SEHA"

About 300 participants interested in toxinology have attended in person, while over 2,000 are participating remotely from 37 countries. Among of them 137 speakers from scientists, specialists and experts in toxicology, as well as researchers, professors of international universities, executives, and those interested in toxicology.

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