NLGIP Profile

National Laboratory for the Genetics of Israeli Populations

Abstract

Goals

The National Laboratory for the Genetics of Israeli Populations at Tel-Aviv University serves as a repository of cell lines and DNA samples representing the diverse Jewish and Arab ethnic populations of Israel. It was established in 1995 by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and is located at the Tel-Aviv University Faculty of Medicine.

Progress

The collection currently holds over 1500 cell lines and matching DNA samples from healthy adult donors. Many studies have already been published with samples from the NLGIP resource, and selected examples are presented here:
http://www.tau.ac.il/medicine/NLGIP/catalog.htm
Some recently published studies are related to the polymorphism of drug metabolizing enzymes in the Israeli populations, including CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2D6.

Experimental Plans

We wish to expand the knowledge on the polymorphism of key drug metabolizing enzymes and drug target genes in Israeli populations so that drug safety and efficacy in Israel, as well as in its neighbor Arab nations, can be improved. Of note, Israel is a multi-ethnic society and both the Jewish and the Arab populations of Israel may serve as proxies for quite a few ethnic groups of the Middle-East, Near-East, North-Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe. Arab ethnic groups in Israel include the Palestinians, Druze and Bedouins, groups which compose a substantial part of the populations in some of Israel's neighbor countries. Ethnic groups in Israel include Jewish communities which immigrated to Israel from Alger, Georgia, India, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Morocco, Tunis, Turkey, Yemen etc. and have lived in these countries for nearly 2000 years so that gene flow from local populations has occurred. Thus, we sincerely hope that in future such studies would foster scientific collaborations between Israel and its Middle-East, Near-East, and North-Africa neighbor nations.

NLGIP Team