History

Molecular Biology & Genomics Centre (MBG Centre) was initially housed in the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) that was founded in 1985 by the order of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Dubai, as a molecular diagnostic lab to help in the identification and control of infectious diseases.

It was initiated in 1997 as the Molecular Biology section, with a prime focus on providing molecular tools for diagnosis of pathogens. In 2003, it was merged with the genetics section (initiated in 2001) and formed Molecular Biology & Genetics Lab (MBG Lab), with more focus on genomic research and development of new molecular diagnostic tests.

In November 2004, under the direction of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dr. Ali Ridha (Director General) unveiled the plan for a new and modern facility. The new building was completed and furnished with state-of-the-art technologies in May 2006. This facilitated a wide range of genomic research projects.

In 2009, when the Swine flu (Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic hit the world, MBG Centre was the first centre and the only testing centre for Dubai and northern emirates to carry out Real-Time PCR for H1N1. MBG Centre has processed over 10,000 H1N1 samples since May 2009.

Our contribution to safe guard our community during pandemic outbreak and our involvement in type II diabetics research in local Arab population (as part of several PhD research projects) opened the door for MBG Centre to provide further services in human genomic research and diagnostics.

In 2012, under the direction of Dr. Ali Ridha (Director General), MBG Centre became an independent centre enabling it to expand fully into medical diagnostics.

In 2013, once again, MBG Centre was selected as the only centre in Dubai facilitating the detection of the MERS Coronavirus, a deadly pandemic which is still a threat to our society today.

In 2016, the MBG Centre was accredited by Dubai Accreditation Centre (DAC) under the recognition of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) to two international standards; ISO15189:2012 and ISO17025:2017. This demonstrates our continuing commitment to achieve the highest quality service for our customers.

In 2017, validation of next generation sequencing were completed for both medical and veterinary services. This included wet lab and bioinformatics pipelines. This enabled us to provide various genomic diagnostic assays and research projects.

In 2020, MBG Centre was one of the first laboratories to set up and provide validated assay for detection of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID 19). The services started with Real Time RT-PCR and later expanded to immunology test for antibody detection.