According to RCO News Agency, citing Jihad University, the press conference of the stude science festival “Royana” at the Royan Research Institute of Jihad University with the presence of Abdul Hossein Shahvardi, the head of Royan Research Institute, Rohollah Fathi, the vice preside of education of this research institute, Adel Tagvi, the head of the general directorate of guidance and strategic supervision of the educational vice-preside of Jihad University, Mahmoud Asheri, the director general of the planning and developme office of Jihad University, and Mostafa Pardeli, the head of the Ceer for Modern Sciences and Technologies of Iran. (Kafna) was held at Royan Jihad University Research Institute.
The beginning of the clinical trial phase of gene therapy in Royan Research Institute
Abdul Hossein Shahvardi, in his speech congratulating on the holidays, said: Since its establishme, Royan Group has been active in the fields of reproductive medicine, cell science and stem cells, and biotechnology, and has taken effective steps in the fields of education, research, and provision of specialized services. Fortunately, with the efforts of colleagues, this collection has been able to achieve valuable honors for the scieific community of the coury and has something to say at the iernational level as well.
He added: Many activities of Royan Research Institute have become a symbol of “we can” in the coury. One of the most promine of these achievemes was the birth of “Royana” as the first cloned animal in Iran, which showed that Iranian scieists are able to move in the froiers of knowledge. This success was not just the birth of a cloned lamb, but the beginning of the developme of advanced technologies in the field of gene therapy and manipulation of a human or animal genome in the coury.
Referring to global advances in the field of gene therapy, the head of Royan Research Institute stated: Today, at the iernational level, the treatme of many diseases, especially some cancers, especially blood cancers, is being done using gene therapy methods, and these methods have been able to remove a heavy burden from the shoulders of paties and families. The foundation of these achievemes is the basic knowledge in the field of cell and genome manipulation.
Shahvardi coinued: The result of more than three decades of efforts of the researchers of Jihad University and Royan Research Institute has led to the beginning of the first clinical trial in the field of gene therapy in this research institute. We hope that the results of this research project will reach the dear people of our coury as good news by the end of the year or the beginning of next year. The initial steps of this project have shown promising signs of success.
He emphasized: Achieving basic knowledge is the basis for doing great things in the coury and we hope that the results of this research can reduce some of the sufferings of paties and its fruits will serve the people.
The head of Royan Research Institute also poied to the necessity of educating the next generation of the coury’s scieists and said: the coinuation of the scieific moveme requires support and culture building among the young generation. Based on this and with the cooperation of the Educational Vice-Chancellor of Royan Research Institute, the Educational Vice-Chancellor of Jihad University, the Ministry of Education and the Ceer for Iellectual Developme of Children and Adolesces, the Royan Stude Festival was held with the aim of promoting research culture and motivating studes.
Studes’ ideas turn io full-fledged research
He poied out that this festival is not just a final ceremony for awarding plaques, but a year-long process during which studes’ ideas are received, judged and guided. Selected ideas are turned io complete researches with the help of meors and scieific advisors, so that studes are familiar with research literature and modern sciences such as stem cells, cloning, and gene therapy from a young age.
Shahvardi expressed his hope that the young generation of the coury can coinue to raise the flag of science and technology in Iran with strength and expand the scieific achievemes of the coury in the new fields of biotechnology.
He coinued: In this festival, the selected people will hold their final course in three days and will be iroduced at the end of this stage. We hope that this action, which is a cultural work and promotes the culture of “we can” and an effective educational method, will be fully realized.
The head of Royan Research Institute expressed his hope that with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education, University Jihad and the Ceer for Iellectual Developme of Children and Adolesces, this program will be held as a fixed, coinuous and common eve in the coury so that we can ideify stude research teams even from areas far from the ceer and discover tales that will follow the future of this new knowledge.
“Royana” is a model for ideifying the tales of underserved areas and promoting stude research
In addition, Ruhollah Fathi, vice-chancellor of Royan Research Institute of Jihad University, referring to the holding of the final stage of the first period of the “Royana” stude scieific festival, said: “We have reached the final stage of the first period of this festival and we hope that this eve will become a stable model in the field of promoting research among studes.”
Ruhollah Fathi stated that Royan Research Institute has played a role in holding scieific conferences, seminars and programs for studes and researchers for years, and stated: We decided to design and impleme the model of these programs for the future generation of the coury and at the level of studes as well. In a way, we modeled large scieific programs such as specialized and ultra-specialized symposia on a stude scale; Including holding a cancer symposium at the stude level, as well as conducting the Royan Research Institute summer school in a format suitable for this age group.
He added: About three years ago, the issue of holding a national stude festival was raised with the honorable minister of education and was welcomed by this ministry. Based on this, a festival named “Royana” was designed at the national level and with an iernational perspective.
Simplifying the concept of research for studes
Referring to the goals of this festival, Fathi clarified: one of the main goals was to simplify the concept of research for studes; So that they can prese and impleme their ideas with simple tools and in an accessible environme, and at the same time benefit from the support of a scieific authority such as Royan Research Institute to strengthen their ideas.
He said about the stages of the festival: The festival was designed in three stages. In the first stage, stude teams se five-minute clips of their ideas, which participated in this stage from 23 provinces of the coury. After the judging, 19 designs made it to the second stage.
The Vice-Chancellor of Royan Research Institute coinued: The strength of the festival was its second stage; At this stage, a meor was considered for each group from among the faculty members of Royan Research Institute and universities. These professors nurtured studes’ ideas for 45 days to prepare for the second stage competition.
He poied out that the second round of judging was done online and groups from differe parts of the coury defended their plans. Finally, 5 groups from the first high school courses and five groups from the second high school made it to the final stage. The noteworthy poi is that none of the groups that made it to the third stage were from Tehran province; A topic that shows that the goal of the festival has been achieved in strengthening the scieific teams of remote areas.
Fathi added: The face-to-face competition of the final stage will be held on Tuesday from 8:00 am at the ceer of iellectual developme of children and teenagers located on Hijab street. Also, two days of educational programs and specialized workshops have been planned for the selected groups at Royan Research Institute, and at the end, the closing ceremony and iroduction of the winners will be held on Tuesday 28 Bahman from 10:00 to 12:00.
A three-moh study opportunity in Royan for selected studes
The Vice-Chancellor of Education of Royan Research Institute said about the festival awards: In addition to material prizes, the winners will have the opportunity to study for three mohs with the support of Royan Research Institute and they can impleme a scieific project in the field of biological sciences together with the faculty members. Also, the winners will cooperate as judges for the next rounds of “Royana” festival.
He stated that the ultimate goal of the festival is to ideify stude tales and fulfill a part of the social mission of reference scieific ceers in the developme of educational justice and added: All the participas of the festival will become members of the stude elite club of Royan Research Institute and will benefit from the scieific programs of the coming years.
In the end, referring to the question design process, Fathi said: The festival was designed for first and second high school studes, and the question design group selected eight final questions from among the 85 proposed questions during about 10 specialized sessions. The participation of studes in differe fields including mathematics, art and literature was also free, because we believe that diverse views can provide creative and applicable answers.
“Royana” festival to become a coinuous educational stream for studes all over the coury
Taqvi said about the role of the educational vice-chancellor of Jihad-University in the Royana festival: the role of the educational vice-chancellor of Jihad-University in this festival is to support and guide part of the educational activities, which is carried out based on the mission of this vice-chancellor in promoting specialized and specialized education for the general public and not only studes.
He added: Jihad University has about 150 short-term specialized ceers in various fields of basic, technical, engineering and medical sciences, some of which are attended by studes and the majority of them are the general public. These ceers provide the opportunity to improve the skills and knowledge of the learners, and the vice-chancellor of education is also responsible for creating culture and modeling the scieific and research activities of the group.
Taqvi coinued: With the announceme of the readiness of the Royan Research Institute, the Vice-Chancellor of Jihad University attended the festival in order to create a more comprehensive and coinuous festival to serve the studes. Not just a short-term competition, but a complete training program where the maximum number of studes can benefit.
In the end, he emphasized: The purpose of this cooperation is to promote scieific education and culture by following the example of veteran professors of Royan Research Institute and Jihad University, including the late Kazemi Ashtiani, Shahvardi, Vathouq and other colleagues, so that we can witness the growth and developme of scieific tales in the coury.
The developme of educational justice is achieved through cooperation
Mostafa Pardeli, head of Iran’s Ceer for New Sciences and Technologies (KAFNA), said: “Since I was a stude, I always liked to watch documearies and videos related to Royan Research Institute, because it was difficult for us to access science in the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine outside of Tehran.”
He added: Fortunately, in rece years, Royan Research Institute has created direct opportunities for studes from differe regions of the coury to communicate with this scieific authority and benefit from scieific activities. During this period, scieific camps and online meetings were held in collaboration with Royan for studes from underprivileged areas, which shows the research institute’s commitme to the developme of educational justice.
Pardeli said about Iran’s Ceer for New Sciences and Technologies: It has been about a year since this ceer was formed and started its activities in various fields of emerging sciences, according to the needs of children and teenagers. Last year, activities were started in 10 differe fields, the most importa of which was the field of stem cells, and with the cooperation of Royan Research Institute, lesson plans and educational books for teenagers have been compiled.
He coinued: “Cafnagap” scieific meetings are held for teenagers so that they can directly communicate with scieific experts and raise their scieific questions. Also, the first scieific magazine of Iran in the field of science and new technologies for teenagers has been published in this ceer, and its second volume will be exclusively about stem cells and biotechnology.
At the end, Pardeli said: According to the memorandum we have with the Royan Research Institute in the field of scieific and technological activities of children and teenagers, the ‘Royana’ festival is the beginning of work for teenagers in the path of research and problem solving. We hope that the capacity of selected studes will be used in the field of stem cells and this cooperation will lead to the developme of educational justice throughout the coury.
