Young Emirati scientist hailed as the future of medicine

A ten-year old Emirati inventor, Adeeb Alblooshi, has been hailed as a medical pioneer by CNN’s Vital Signs programme, a monthly television programme that covers health stories from around the world.

Adeeb Alblooshi is one of eight youngsters from across the globe who featured in a CNN programme for their contributions to medical science.

Among them are Sandele Kubheka, South Africa’s youngest medical doctor, who graduated four years ahead of schedule at the age of just 20, and Joshua Meir from New Jersey, who has conducted award-winning research into the ageing process of stem cells.

Samantha Marquez, 18, has been lauded for a school science project that started when she was aged just 11 years old. For the project she created “celloidosomes”, three-dimensional structures built out of living cells that act as a container for other particles. She hopes that the structures will be useful in organ repair and in delivering drugs to the body. Meanwhile, her younger sister Michelle, 15, has been recognised for her research into music and the emotions.

Adeeb’s journey into science began at the age of six with a trip to the beach. His father, who had suffered polio as a child, was unable to go swimming because his prosthetic leg was not waterproof. Adeeb was inspired to go and invent a waterproof alternative that uses enhanced medical wax as a coating.

Samantha Marquez
Samantha Marquez has created 3D structures that she hopes will be useful in organ repair and in delivering drugs to the body

The youngster has also tried his hand at robotics, by inventing a robot cleaning-device to help his mother around the house. Noticing that his mother was having difficulty cleaning around the furniture Adeeb offered to do the job for her but instead of cleaning he created a robot that resembles a motorised “broom” with feathers that vibrate to pick up the dust.

Having achieved his task in less than a day he promptly settled in front of the television, surprising his mother who had expected to find him cleaning.  Adeeb says, “She checked under the chair and she was really proud of me. She was shocked and she hugged me after that.”

His mother is not the only one to be impressed with his skills. His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, has taken an interest and organised a tour so that this summer the young inventor can visit the US, France, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Germany and Italy and further explore the fields of prosthetics and medical apparatus. With the help of government funding he has also developed other inventions, including a seatbelt that can monitor heart rate and alert medical services, and his prosthetic leg is currently being developed by an orthopaedic doctor in Germany.