Mr. Mohammad Hasan Qabajah, the Biotechnology Research Center’s first M.Sc. student to submit his thesis dissertation for research in our laboratories, successfully completed his thesis defense today.
The rigorous evaluation process began with the student’s PowerPoint presentation of his research on “avian Pathogenic E.coli in Palestine”, which revealed an alarmingly high incidence of antibiotic resistance in the Palestinian poultry sector and also resulted in the development of an excellent multi-gene screening technology to simultaneously identify 8 markers of virulence in chickens destined for human consumption.
Mr. Mohammad’s findings and recommendations will no doubt be a matter of considerable interest to all national food and health regulatory bodies in Palestine, to whom it will be no surprise that the project supervisor is Dr Yaqoub Al Ashhab, who has already established a reputation of innovation in the service of Palestinian food security.
Mr. Mohammad’s presentation was given to a large open audience of staff and students from the Palestine Polytechnic University, including the VP for Academic Affairs, Dr Mustaffa Abu Saffa, and our M.Sc. partner, Bethlehem University. Family and friends were also present in the audience.
Following the presentation, the student openly defended his thesis over two rounds of rigorous questions by distinguished examiners in related fields. The external examiner was Dr. Sameer Barghouthi, PhD, (Associate Professor), Faculty of Health Professions from Al Quds University. Dr Sameer has an outstanding scientific background in clinical bacteriology and immunity, with patents to his name and many international publications, whose doctoral and post-doctoral experience was gained from distinguished universities and research centers in the U.S. and Canada.
The internal examiner was Dr. Robin Abu Ghazaleh, Ph.D. who, in addition to extensive post-doctoral medical research training in U.K. universities and institutions, gained his Ph.D. at the world renowned Institute for
Animal Health-Pirbright, England under a collaborative research grant held by the University of Oxford.
Congratulations Mohammad for your successful thesis defense! We wish you continued success in your scientific career.