MUSCAT: The Oman Center for Animal and Plant Genetic Resources organised a panel discussion on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Genetic Resource Management, under the patronage of Dr Rahma bint Ibrahim Al Mahrooqi, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
The event took place on July 24, at the Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) building, with the participation of several researchers in the field.
The panel was moderated by Abdullah Al Baharani, an expert and media specialist in digital transformation and emerging technologies.
Speakers included Dr Mounir bin Abdullah Al Maawali, Head of the Genetics Department at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University; Dr Mohammed bin Ali Al Abri, Associate Professor of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine at the College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University; and Dr Salem Al Shaaili, Director of Artificial Intelligence Projects at the Ministry of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology.
The main topics of the session included defining Artificial Intelligence, genomics, genetics, and hereditary diseases in humans, animals, plants, marine organisms, and microorganisms.
Discussions also covered the role of Artificial Intelligence in human genome analysis and the genomes of various living organisms. Ethical and legal challenges related to genome analysis using Artificial Intelligence were addressed, along with the current status and future prospects of Artificial Intelligence in Oman.
Dr Mounir Al Maawali highlighted that "Artificial Intelligence can analyse human genes, predicting hereditary and malignant diseases before they manifest, marking a significant advancement in disease prevention among humans in the future."
Dr Mohammed bin Nasser Al Yehyai, Director, Oman Center for Genetic Resources under the Ministry of Higher Education, stated that "the concept of the scientific café, which has been ongoing for ten years, and now in its eleventh year organising sessions like this, aims to target all segments of society interested in science in general, communicating with them in a simplified scientific language, as we did today in simplifying the understanding of genetics and genetic resources."
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