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Saudi project puts Arabs on genetic map
Saudi researchers have mapped the first Arab genome in a project to put the Arab world on the global genetic map and improve healthcare.
And, surprise surprise, there's a whole lot less variation than in the human genome otherwise ...
Geneticists from Saudi Biosciences say unlocking the genetic profile of 100 people from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries will help tackle medical problems in Saudi Arabia, encourage development of personalized medicine and encourage sorely-needed scientific research.
Just screen one, the other 99 will be the same ...
The collaboration between the private Saudi company, Danish firm CLC Bio and the Beijing Genomics Institute will make their sequencing of Arab genomes available on a public database.

"The advantage of the project is that it studies the differences between peoples, and that will explain the spread of specific illnesses such as diabetes, heart diseases, etc.," said Saeed al-Turki, Arab Human Genome Project Coordinator. "Twenty-five percent of the Saudi population has, or is liable to have diabetes and that will form a big burden on health services," he said.
Posted by: Fred 2008-09-26
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=251072