Abu Dhabi Crown Prince receives Alia Al Mansouri,winner

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, received Emirati schoolgirl, Alia Al Mansouri, the winner of the "Genes in Space" competition, at Al Bahr Palace on Monday.

Her experiment applying DNA analysis to real-life challenges in space exploration has produced positive results that will encourage scientists and researchers to conduct space DNA research.

The Genes in Space UAE competition challenges school pupils to design experiments to be conducted in space.

Her winning proposal studies how exposure to space affects the health of live organisms at the cellular level. Al Mansouri’s experiment focuses on heat-protecting proteins produced by the body and aims to determine whether these ‘heat shock’ proteins are still produced in space.

''I dedicate this project to the UAE and to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, who inspired and encouraged me since the beginning of the project. His words were very encouraging when I presented to him the results of my project 'I am Proud of You.’ ''The most important thing is to serve the nation and harness our goals, directions, innovations and inventions to serve our nation and its progress."

Sheikh Mohamed expressed his happiness with the project results and congratulated her on the scientific achievement. He said he was proud of what she did and the acts of other Emirati talents who raise the flag of their nation high.