The Maltese research group on Haematological disorders.
The Thalassaemia and Molecular Genetics Clinic, at Mater Dei Hospital, and the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Centre for Molecular Medicine and Biobanking, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery organised 'Thalassaemia Day' an event characterised by a series of presentations. The keynote speaker is Professor Sjaak Philipsen from the Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
The event was held on Friday 18 May from 16:00 to 19:00 in the South Auditorium, Mater Dei Hospital, Faculty of Health Sciences.
Thalassaemia is an inherited disorder of the blood. It decreases the amount of haemoglobin the body can make, resulting in anaemia. It can be life threatening if left untreated. One particular treatment is multiple blood transfusions. However, this is not without complications, and in fact can lead to iron overload (increased iron levels) in multiple organs of the human body with unpleasant side effects, posing a great challenge to the Health Care team. International research has paved the way for major advancements in the search for cure of thalassaemia and related haemoglobin disorders.
The Maltese group, led by Professor Alex E. Felice, too has been very active with the students who are carrying out the research as part of their M.Sc. and Ph.D. studies; some of this research is supported by Maltese Government Scholarship Schemes. This year's theme for the seminar was 'Thalassaemia past, present and future: Documenting country’s progress and patients’ needs globally'.
The event to mark Thalassaemia Day also included a number of speakers who presented their latest findings in this challenging field, ranging from clinical medicine and patient management to state of the art next generation DNA Sequencing technologies, and wound healing factors.