Biomedical Sciences Division (BioMed)

Decoding Life, Advancing Health

Overview

The Biomedical Sciences (BioMed) division at KAUST brings together world-class science, technology, and education to address today’s most pressing health challenges. Through interdisciplinary research, advanced computational and digital tools, and strong partnerships across the healthcare ecosystem, BioMed connects discovery with real-world impact - supporting national priorities while contributing to global advances in health and disease.

Vision

BioMed will improve health in Saudi Arabia and beyond by harnessing cutting edge science and technology to investigate, educate on, and translate discoveries that make people’s lives better.

Mission

BioMed applies the scientific and technical expertise of KAUST by interdisciplinary collaboration and intersectional partnerships both within and beyond the university, leveraging and boosting the efforts of the health care ecosystem to understand, prevent, and treat disease.

We will encourage, educate, and promote expertise in the study and taming of disease to help engineer a healthier life for all, using knowledge generation with widespread deployment of health-translated advances underpinned by our cutting edge, world class technical expertise.

A Message from the Dean of Biomedical Sciences (BioMed)

Professor Peter J Goadsby FMedSci FRS

BioMed is KAUST's newest division, harnessing the University's world-class science and technology to advance healthcare outcomes in Saudi Arabia and beyond. We apply cutting-edge computational and digital tools to understanding, combating and preventing disease.

BioMed is at the start of an exciting journey. The division offers a collaborative environment where scientific excellence meets a passion for teaching and mentoring a new generation of graduates who will advance health in the 21st century.

Our priorities are those of the Kingdom, our mission aligned with Vision 2030's aspirations for better health. Our graduate programs uniquely integrate biology with engineering and bioinformatics and, our faculty and students strive to be future-ready for the rapidly emerging challenges and opportunities in biomedical science.

BioMed draws on the KAUST ecosystem of outstanding research and technical capabilities, all set against the backdrop of the Red Sea. We are beginning an ambitious journey, and invite those who share our vision of a healthier life for all.

View the Dean’s Biography

Our Programs

Bioengineering

Bioscience

BRUNO REVERSADE

Professor, Bioscience

Biomedical Sciences

bruno.reversade@kaust.edu.sa

The Reversade lab

We leverage the power of human Mendelian genetics for target validation and preclinical drug development in the context of larger unmet medical needs. The breadth and depth of the research carried out in the Laboratory of Human Genetics & Therapeutics relies on causation and mechanism-based investigations.

Program Affiliations

Bioscience

Center of Excellence

Center of Excellence for Smart Health

Biography

Professor Bruno Reversade is a human geneticist. By identifying mutations responsible for monogenic traits (that may be deleterious or beneficial), his group has pioneered a paradigm shift in the field of Mendelian genetics. By pinpointing the subverted biological pathways which not only underlie the etiology of unique inherited conditions, Reversade has revealed biological nodes whose perturbation contributes to common maladies. This concept of "rare begets common" highlights how the study of humans with extreme phenotypes can foster innovation in therapies for common unmet medical needs.

Research Interests

Through a reiterative "bedside to bench and back" paradigm, Reversade's team has deciphered the etiology of a wide array of conditions affecting metabolism, immunity, birth defects, infectious diseases, and oncology indications. His team employs patient-derived organoids, animal models, and biochemical/structural assays to derive meaningful insights into the origin of each condition studied. Several of these discoveries have been licensed or are being developed for therapeutics.

human genetics orphan diseases target validation preclinical drug development industry partnerships

Education Profile

2008-2012 Inaugural A*STAR Principal Investigator (Singapore)
2000-2007 Research Associate, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Los Angeles (U.S.A.)
2006 Ph.D., Université Pierre & Marie Curie (France) and University of California, Los Angeles (U.S.A.)
2000 M.S., Pasteur Institute, (France)

Awards and Recognitions

2023-current Distinguished Visiting Toh Chin Chye Professor,  Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS (Singapore)
Joint Scientist, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (Singapore)
2017-2023 Distinguished Professor of Genetics, Koç University (Turkey)
2016-2020 Professor of Human Genetics, Amsterdam UMC (Netherlands)
2021-2023 Inaugural awardee of Use-Inspired Basic Research Grant, A*STAR (Singapore)
2018-2023 Senior Investigator, National Research Foundation (Singapore)
2018-2021 Adjunct Professor, Manipal University (India)
2016-2021 Honorary Professor, Bharath University (India)
2016-2019 Inaugural AAA Fellow, Amsterdam UMC (Netherlands)
2016 The Award for Leading, Educating & Nurturing Talent, A*STAR (Singapore)
2013-16 First EMBO Young Investigator based outside Europe, A*STAR (Singapore)
2008-2013 Inaugural A*STAR Investigatorship, A*STAR (Singapore)
2007-2012 Branco Weiss Fellowship: Society in Science, ETH (Switzerland)
2006 David Sigman Award, UCLA (U.S.A.)

Publications

Google scholar

In reverse chronological order on Pubmed

Chekroun I, Shenbagam S, (...), Reversade B, Alkuraya FS, Alsheikh-Ali A, Abou Tayoun AN. (2025). Genomics of rare diseases in the Greater Middle East. Nature Genetics.
Harapas CR, (...), Reversade B. (2022). DPP9 deficiency: An inflammasomopathy that can be rescued by lowering NLRP1/IL-1 signaling. Science Immunology.
Traspas RM, Teoh TS, (...), Vincent M, Girisha KM, Reversade B. (2022). Loss of FOCAD, operating via the SKI messenger RNA surveillance pathway, causes a pediatric syndrome with liver cirrhosis. Nature Genetics.
Szenker-Ravi E, (...), Reversade B. (2022). Discovery of a genetic module essential for assigning left-right asymmetry in humans and ancestral vertebrates. Nature Genetics.
Chai G, (...), Reversade B, Gleeson JG. (2021). A Human Pleiotropic Multiorgan Condition Caused by Deficient Wnt Secretion. New England Journal of Medicine.
Robinson, KS, Tan DET, Tan KS, Ong HH, (...), Zhong FL, Reversade B. Enteroviral 3C protease activates the human NLRP1 inflammasome in airway epithelia. Science.
Hengel H., (...), Reversade B. (2020). Loss-of-function mutations in UDP- Glucose 6-Dehydrogenase cause recessive developmental epileptic encephalopathy. Nature Communications.
Kayserili H, Reversade B. (2018). RSPO2 inhibition of RNF43 and ZNRF3 governs limb development independently of LGR4/5/6. Nature.
Ho L, (...), Reversade B. (2017). ELABELA deficiency promotes preeclampsia and cardiovascular malformations in mice. Science.
Gordon CT, (...), Reversade B. (2017). De novo mutations in SMCHD1 cause Bosma arhinia microphthalmia syndrome and abrogate nasal development. Nature Genetics.
Zhong FL, (...), Reversade B. (2016). Germline NLRP1 Mutations Cause Skin Inflammatory and Cancer Susceptibility Syndromes via Inflammasome Activation. Cell.

Multimedia

- LinkedIn