Abstract
The US government has proposed the development of scientific centers of excellence to solve global challenges. We propose such a center of excellence devoted to the genomic analysis of Mediterranean populations of all creeds. This genomic focus is rooted in the region's demographic history, builds on the area's rapidly developing expertise in human genetics, and will yield scientific discoveries of both local and global significance. The genome sequence data of Mediterranean populations will offer unique insights into human evolution and early human migration. The potent combination of highly consanguineous populations in the Mediterranean's southern and eastern rims and regional medical and scientific expertise could lead to the identification and characterization of many genes responsible for human disease. Such discoveries will enable genetic knowledge to be translated into medical knowledge that will benefit local populations and contribute substantially to the understanding of the genetic bases of human diseases worldwide.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Lee, J. The President's speech in Cairo: a new beginning. The White House Blog http://www.whitehouse.gov/Blog/NewBeginning (2009).
Anonymous. Secretary Clinton announces global partnerships to advance Cairo's 'New Beginning'. The US Department of State http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/nov/131232.htm (2009).
Anonymous. Editorial. Nat. Genet. 41, 861 (2009).
House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. Genomic medicine vol. 1: report. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldselect/ldsctech/107/107i.pdf (2009).
Hawass, Z. et al. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 303, 638–647 (2010).
Tadmouri, G.O. et al. Reprod. Health 6, 17 (2009).
Woods, C.G. et al. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 78, 889–896 (2006).
Lander, E.S. & Botstein, D. Science 236, 1567–1570 (1987).
Zlotogora, J. Am. J. Med. Genet. 109, 176–182 (2002).
Shahin, H. et al. Eur. J. Hum. Genet. 18, 407–413 (2010).
World Health Organization. The global burden of disease: 2004 update. http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/2004_report_update/en/index.html (2004).
McClellan, J. & King, M.C. Cell 141, 210–217 (2010).
Alwan, A. & Modell, B. Nat. Rev. Genet. 4, 61–68 (2003).
Collins, F. Nature 464, 674–675 (2010).
Tadmouri, G.O. Al Ali, M.T., Al-Haj Ali, S. & Al Khaja, N. Nucleic Acids Res. 34, D602–D606 (2006).
Acknowledgements
This Commentary is dedicated to the memory of Ihsan Dogramaci, a pioneer and reformer in child health and higher education, one of the founders of WHO, the longest serving Executive Board member of UNICEF and a tireless campaigner for world peace.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Özçelik, T., Kanaan, M., Avraham, K. et al. Collaborative genomics for human health and cooperation in the Mediterranean region. Nat Genet 42, 641–645 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0810-641
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0810-641
- Springer Nature America, Inc.
This article is cited by
-
Genomic landscape of the Greater Middle East
Nature Genetics (2016)
-
The homozygosity index (HI) approach reveals high allele frequency for Wilson disease in the Sardinian population
European Journal of Human Genetics (2013)