KARACHI: The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has awarded its prestigious Chemistry Biology Interface Horizon Prize 2026 to the Global Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Network, an international consortium of researchers from seven countries.
The Pakistani team of the network was led by Prof. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, Coordinator General of OIC-COMSTECH. The award recognizes the consortium’s groundbreaking research titled “Development of new tools for the identification, and chemical and genetic validation, of multiple new drug targets for leishmaniasis and Chagas disease.”
The achievement marks a significant milestone for Pakistani science and highlights the country’s growing contribution to advanced global health research.
Researchers from the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, including Prof. Dr. Sammer Yousuf from the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry and Dr. Saba Farooq from the Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, were part of the award-winning team.
The international project, funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) through the Medical Research Council (MRC), UK, and led by Durham University, United Kingdom, involves scientists from the UK, Uruguay, India, Brazil, Argentina, and Pakistan.
The consortium is working on innovative solutions against neglected tropical diseases caused by protozoan parasites, which affect millions of people, especially in vulnerable communities around the world.
The Chemistry Biology Interface Horizon Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry recognizes exceptional scientific collaborations and discoveries that advance chemical sciences through innovation and transformative research.
