The fourth symposium of the series of Drug Discovery and Therapy conferences was again held in Dubai from February 12-15, 2012 at Dubai Men’s College, UAE. The success trend of these conferences even this year attracted a huge audience, causing a sensation amongst the scientific communities to assure their presence at the 4^th ICDDT. A massive congregation of scientists and researchers from all over the world participated with full zeal to throw light upon further breakthroughs in drug discovery and therapy to be celebrated and cherished all year through and leave a lasting impact for the times to come. The 4^th ICDDT warmly welcomed an esteemed assembly of a number of Nobel Laureates who honored the event with their prestigious presence including Prof. Ferid Murad (USA), Prof. Hartmut Michel (Germany), Prof. Harald zur Hausen (Germany), Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn (France), Prof. Robert Huber (Germany), Prof. Mario Molina (USA) and the honorable Fellow of Royal Society (FRS) Prof. Atta ur Rahman.

The mutually held inaugural ceremony of 4^th International Conference on Drug Discovery and Therapy and 1st Biotechnology World Congress raised the curtain of these conferences on 12th February 2012. His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister for Higher Education and Research, Dubai was the Chief Guest, who welcomed and appreciated the combined efforts of Eureka Science and Higher College of Technology for organizing such an event of multidimensional importance. His address further highlighted the importance of education and significance of latest research advances in the field of drug discovery, disease management and diagnosis as well as the translational nature of biotechnological research.

Next, Professor Ferid Murad, the Nobel Laureate and co-president of 4^th ICDDT, delivered his speech anticipating that this congress would provide distinguished scientists the prospects to put forth their cutting edge researches in the field of drug discovery and therapy in addition to biotechnology.

Lastly, Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman, the co-president of the conference delineated in his address that this meeting of scientists and researchers from around the world will bring out the best in drug discovery and therapy, besides biotechnology. He discussed that the conference aims to provide a diverse perspective on the rapid developments in new and emerging fields and how these are presenting new opportunities and challenges to scientists and researchers.

4^th ICDDT proceeded smoothly both in its conduct and impact which will have far reaching influence on Drug Discovery and Therapy setting the stage for a wide range of subjects, participation of large number of delegates, fruitful deliberations and immense response of the participants towards discovering Drug Discovery and Therapy.

The regular sessions of Invited and Session lectures were conducted in 6 parallel sessions on 12th and 13th Feb, 2012, and in 5 sessions on 14^th and 15th Feb 2012. Each day the sessions commenced with the Plenary lectures from Nobel Laureates. All the sessions of the conference were favourably attended by the participants and were genuinely appreciated.

To ensure that the participants do not miss out the poster sessions, one hour was allotted each day to the poster sessions after the lectures.  A number of presents displayed their well arranged and considerately prepared posters, which attracted a huge number of delegates to appreciate the efforts of the presenters.



A part from lecture series and poster presentation, there was associated exhibition, where different companies displayed their publications and other materials. The major exhibitors were the following:

1. Bentham Science Publishers
2. Eureka Science
3. Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT)
4. Dubai Men’s College (DMC)
5. Dubai Women’s College (DWC)
6. Integrated Gulf Biosystems (IGB)
7. HANA MEDICAL SUPPLIES L.L.C,
8. Cfm Oskar Tropitzsch e.K
9. Iris BIOTECH GMBH
10. Pharm Research MD
11. Science Alert
12. Arabian Gulf University
13. MIND - EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN NEUROSCIENCE AND MEDICINE
14. Swiss Biotech Association (SBA)
15. Bachem
16. Eu2P
17. HVD LifeSciences
18. xpandBio
19. Actavis

The Social Mixer was basically a cocktail party, held on 13th February 2012, after the lecture sessions, which continued in parallel with the Poster sessions. This mixer offered the participants a relaxing environment to mingle, socialize, meet new people and exchange ideas with leading pharmaceutical scientists and researchers. The social mixer well served the purpose of granting the guests- all from varied backgrounds- the opportunity to be sociable and get to know each other, discuss ideas and open new ways for new possibilities in research discovery and development. It was a delectable evening for the visitors who enjoyed the mixer with a variety of snacks served with fresh juices and drinks.



The ‘Gala Dinner on Dhow Cruise’ was themost exciting event of the conference on the 14^th of February 2012. ‘Dhow Cruise’ is like discovering the true beauty of Dubai while being aboard a traditionally decorated wooden dhow (boat), as it sails along the Dubai creek under the moonlight. The major Dubai landmarks shone under the moonlit sky as the wooden vessel slipped silently across the creek. This unforgettable evening cruise served a buffet dinner of continental and oriental cuisine, with soft drinks and traditional coffee to be enjoyed at the beat of traditional Arabic music and conventional dance performance.  The Dhow Cruise lasted for 2 hours, between 7:30-9:30pm. Guests were picked up at 7:00 p.m. from Dubai Men’s College and dropped at the hotels in the official buses.

The closing stages of the conference presented the Cash Distribution Ceremony which was the most sought after event of this conference, the delegates desperately waited for. The ceremony was organized to reward the three best posters. A panel of judges including Dr. Bruno Mougin, and Dr. Subramanian Sivakami shouldered the responsibility to assess all the posters very critically, based on the arrangement of the poster, the stance, the research embarked on, the perspective of the poster presenter, his/her awareness of the subject matter of the poster presented, and most of all, his/her attitude when the poster was being assessed.

Items that are available for sponsorship at ICDDT 2012 included:

Eureka Science and Higher Colleges of Technology, proudly announced to host two magnificent conferences, 4^th International Conference On Drug Discovery & Therapy and The 1^st Biotechnology World Congress, to be held from 12^th – 15^th February 2012 and 14^th-15^th February, respectively at Dubai Men's College. These conferences presented an eminent platform to renowned scientists and researchers from the scientific community to expound their inventions in their own specialized fields.

A number of eminent Nobel Laureates paid homage to these august events. Based on plenary lectures, invited and session talks and through poster presentations, the symposia delineated not only on the ground-breaking advancements in drug design and discovery, but also the burgeoning field Biotechnology. This facilitated enlightenment in the extremely diverse field of medicine to cater to the treatment of debilitating diseases surreptitiously invading the entire humanity as well as shed light on the appreciable advancements on the Biotechnological front.

The 4^th ICDDT had the privilege of being held the fourth time to draw together most renowned and leading scientists of the world to nurture collaborations with scientists in UAE with those in advanced Western countries, which has now adopted a success trend and so its success story continues.