
Bacteriophages in wastewater: isolation and use
Water security and sustainability in Qatar is a critical issue, since the only source of drinking water is the desalinated seawater from the Arabian Gulf. Water quality and safety is a key component of water security. This project aims to isolate and use bacteriophages as biomonitoring tools in wastewater treatment plants to validate the efficacy of the treatment process.
Annette Vincent is the program director of biological sciences and the lead principal investigator for this project. The principal investigators include CMU-Q’s Valentin Ilyin and Basem Shomar from HBKU’s Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute.

Role of the PDZ and LIM containing protein Zasp in integrin-mediated cell adhesion
In multicellular organisms, cells attach to each other and the matrix around them using specific adhesion proteins called integrins to form functional tissues and organs. Cells can regulate their adhesion to move, migrate and invade. This study focuses on how cells regulate integrin function, which could help better understanding how normal cells function and how disease onset takes place.
Mohamed Bouaouina is an assistant teaching professor of biological science at CMU-Q and lead principal investigator on the project.

SLATE-Q: Making writing expectations explicit through interdisciplinary collaborations
University students are expected to write analytically and argumentatively, but many lack the awareness or language control, and assignments often do not make expectations explicit. A collaboration between applied linguists and information systems faculty members, this study has developed pedagogical interventions to support learners as they write effective, analytical texts.
The SLATE-Q team is led by Silvia Pessoa and includes CMU-Q principal investigators Selma Limam Mansar, Pia Gomez Laich, Divakaran Liginlal, Thomas Mitchell, and Susan Hagan. The team also includes Ahmar Mahboob, University of Sydney, and Ryan Miller, Kent State University.

A comparison of the impact of the Basel Standards upon Islamic and conventional bank risks in the Gulf State Region
Subsequent to the 2008 global crisis, Basel III has proposed some major changes to banking regulations. This project is a comparative study of the Islamic and conventional banking sector risks using market data generated from a sample of publicly listed Islamic and conventional banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
John O’Brien and Fuad Farooqi are part of the business administration faculty at CMU-Q, teaching courses in finance and accounting. In addition to Islamic finance, their research interests lie in the areas of fintech and the blockchain.

Modeling collagenous soft tissue
Mathematical models that describe how soft biological tissue responds to mechanical stress are an essential part of basic biomechanics. This project creates continuum level mathematical formulations that describe the relation between swelling, deformation, stress, and key metabolic factors.
Heiko Topol is a postdoctoral research associate with a background in mechanical engineering. The co-lead principal investigators for
this project are CMU-Q’s Hasan Demirkoparan and Thomas Pence from Michigan State University.

Formalization of automated trading systems in a concurrent linear framework
By formally representing the core of a financial exchange as a set of logical formulas, it is possible to both run the exchange and prove properties about it. This project uses a concurrent and linear framework to model a financial order matching system where buy and sell orders are matched according to the price-time priority.
Dragiša Žunić was a postdoctoral research associate who worked with co-lead principal investigators CMU-Q’s Giselle Reis and CMU’s Iliano Cervesato on this project.