TEHRAN — Tehran University of Medical Sciences Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute and Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to bolster cooperation on genetics and metabolomics here on Tuesday.

The MOU was signed between the Cypriot Chief Executive Medical Director Leonidas A. Phylactou and Mohammad-Baqer Larijani, the director for teaching affairs at the Health Ministry with Cypriot envoy to Iran Andreas P. Kouzoupis and Iranian deputy health minister Mohsen Asadi-Lari in attendance, according to Khabaronline.

“We have held various meetings and discussed the two countries’ possible cooperation before signing the MOU,” Larijani said, adding, “The newly signed MOU is focusing on improving genetics and metabolomics sciences.”

“So far Iran has made some notable improvement on genetics and metabolism sciences and by sharing our findings with world credible institutes we can help develop such sciences in our country,” he added.

“Under the terms of the MOU we are going to exchange faculty members who have expertise in the [aforementioned] fields as well as organizing student exchange programs,” Larijani highlighted.

By forming joint working groups the centers will also take on conducting joint research projects, he pointed.

Phylactou, for his part, expressed hope that the MOU would pave the ground for the future development of the fields both in Iran and Cyprus.

Metabolomics is the scientific study of the set of metabolites present within an organism, cell, or tissue and genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in living organisms.

MQ/MG