Download Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Omar Dar Issa

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Omar Dar Issa
Dr. Omar Darissa, Assistant Professor of Biology and the Director of the UNESCO
Biotechnology Center at Bethlehem University, is the author of fourteen scientific publications
and the recipient of the Outstanding Junior Researcher Award for the academic year 2014-2015.
This award is considered one of the most prestigious awards for faculty and staff at Bethlehem
University.
Since an early age, Dr. Omar knew he wanted to be a scientist and a researcher. After a young
man from the neighborhood passed away, the young Omar wanted to know what makes people
get sick and why they die. He was curious about the shapes and colors of living organisms, the
boundaries of the universe, the nature of God, and the way technology works. However, he was
never happy with the answers he used to get, so he decided to set on his own journey in search of
satisfactory answers to these perennial questions. He started watching scientific documentaries,
reading different kind of scientific books as well as science fiction, which his mother used to buy
for him.
This quest for rational and scientific answers eventually led him to study biology at Bethlehem
University, even though his father thought that studying engineering in Iraq was a much better
option. As an undergraduate student, Dr. Omar completed his senior research project at the
laboratory of the UNESCO Biotechnology Center, which he is directing now.
The Center played a key role in his decision to pursue his graduate studies in the field of plant
biology. Omar enrolled in the master’s program at An-Najah National University, while
completing all his research at the UNESCO Biotechnology Center at BU on a fellowship from
the UNESCO Bio-Action Council. At this Center, Dr. Omar gained a lot of experience in the
field of biological control, plant molecular biology, and plant tissue culture. He was among the
first people in Palestine to use a technology in molecular biology, known as Polymerase Chain
Reaction (PCR), to detect plant diseases and identify plant DNA.
At that point in his career, Omar realized that he wanted to dedicate his life to teaching and
research. Omar admits that there was another reason that motivated him to pursue his doctoral
studies: This is a story that he is publicly sharing for the first time. Omar says that growing up,
he used to be the only child wearing glasses in his village, so his friends and others started
calling him “Dr.” Omar felt obliged not to disappoint them and perhaps allow them to experience
such an academic degree vicariously through him. Consequently, he applied for a DAAD (the
German Academic Exchange Service) fellowship, and completed his Ph.D. at Hamburg
University, Germany. Dr. Omar graduated Summa Cum Laude, and was able to publish four
articles by the time he graduated.
For Dr. Omar, his research in biology and biotechnology made it possible for him to contribute
significantly to developing sustainable agriculture in Palestine. These days, in fact, the UNESCO
BERCEN Center provides major services to Palestinian farmers, plant nursery owners, and the
Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, in order to improve the volume and quality of the crop yield
in Palestine. Under his leadership, the Center helps detect plant diseases and produce plants that
could tolerate biotic and environmental stress such as saline soils, heat, and drought.
His service to Palestinian agriculture benefited tremendously from his involvement in national
and international research projects. He collaborated with well-known scientists such as Prof.
Douglas Maxwell and the late Prof. Guenter Adam to improve research capacity in agriculture.
He is also a member of a team of international experts, who submit white papers on the topic of
“Quantitative & Qualitative Enhancement of Crop Products” to help shape policy in the EuroMediterranean region. Dr. Omar has been actively involved in reviewing scientific research
manuscripts for several national and international journals, including the Journal of Food and
Nutrition Sciences. He also serves as a board member of the Arab Society for Virology.
Dr. Omar also works on building bridges between the different academic communities as well as
between the academy and the public. For example, he participated and coordinated several
training workshops in his area of expertise for researchers from various Arab universities, which
recognized his contribution to the transfer of knowledge in the Arab world. Recently, he was also
approached by the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees and the Palestinian Ministry of
Agriculture to write a booklet and a poster about grapevine diseases in Palestine. He also serves
as a commentator at Radio Alam in Hebron on several scientific topics such as DNA
fingerprinting, viruses, prions (an agent that causes mad cow disease), etc.
For Dr. Omar his research is integral to his teaching at BU. Good teaching for him is not simply
about lecturing, but more importantly, about encouraging students to develop a more active role
in the production of knowledge through their own research. He thus incorporates most of the
research methodologies he employs at the UNESCO research laboratory in his graduate and
undergraduate courses at BU. Some of these methods include hydroponics, genotyping of plants
using molecular markers, resolving and blotting DNA and proteins, detection of plant viral
pathogens using DAS-ELISA and PCR, propagation of plants through tissue culture, introducing
genes into plant tissues, studying protein-protein interactions by the yeast-two-hybrid system,
etc. This way he introduces students to modern methods and concepts in plant biology and
allows them to gain practical experiences in the lab.
Unsurprisingly, Dr. Omar says he cannot emphasize enough the importance of developing a
thriving research culture at BU for the benefit of everyone. He underscores the importance of
networking with other researchers in the field; this can only help in finding collective solutions
to emerging technical difficulties that we face in our life and work. His final advice to everyone
is to “keep reading in order to stay up-to-date about your area of expertise and improve your
career opportunities.”
Prepared and edited by
Dr. Jamil Khader
11/23/2015