The Scientific community in Edinburgh, UK, has celebrated a breakthrough by a Saudi student. Abdurrahman Bin Abdulhadi Al-Sultan, a Saudi postgraduate student, has patented four new genes he had recently discovered. Sultan outlined the new genes in a doctorate thesis he is pursuing at Edinburgh University in Scotland. The four new genes, of type OXA, are classified among 55 other geneses that strip antibiotics of their effectiveness. They are called “Lactam Antibiotics.” The four new genes Sultan patented belong to the OXA type. They had been isolated from diabetic patients in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. Sultan named them OXA-130-131-OXA-132-OXA-90. Abdul-Rahman has registered the new discovery in his name and under the name of Edinburgh University at the Central Gene Bank at Lehigh Clinic in the US. The four genes have been documented and registered classified under the following numbers: OXA-90EU547445, OXA-132, EU54744, OXA131-EU547443, OXA -130. The discovery of the genes came within a PhD thesis that Sultan had been working on it about three years. The importance of the discovery stems from the fact that these genes neutralize antibiotics in patients suffering from “Acinetobacter Baunmannii,” a species of pathogenic bacteria that forms opportunistic infections. It preys exclusively on weaker patients. Genes are defined as spiraled, threadlike particles made of DNA. DNA contains the instructions for building proteins, which control the structure function of all the cells make up living beings. Genes and the information they carry are packaged inside chromosomes. Most cells in the human body have two copies of every chromosome and, therefore, two copies of every gene: one from the mother and one from the father. Identifying these genes extensively helps doctors and researchers to reach and prescribe effective antibiotics in treating patients suffering from weak immunity. The discovery enables doctors to find the reasons why patients with weak immunity, such as Type I and 2 diabetics, don't respond to treatment because of the acinetobacter baunamannii. Sultan said he presented these new genes at the European Conference on Microbiology and Infectious Diseases that was held in Barcelona in Spain from April 19-22, 2008. He pointed out that his colleague Benjamin Evan in Edinburgh University presented these genes within the new genome map.
