Kesher Talk

Scientists seek key to disease in Jews' genes: Genetic sleuths in Israel are collecting thousands of blood samples from Jews of European origin in a race to uncover the genetic causes of such diseases as schizophrenia, asthma and Parkinson's. IDgene Pharmaceuticals is the only company in Israel with government approval to study the genetic makeup of Ashkenazi Jews in the hope this could help it home in on the genetic causes of common diseases. The relatively uniform genes of Ashkenazi Jews are a boon for geneticists who must sift through three billion human DNA sequences and about 40,000 genes in their search for the genetic causes of common and often deadly diseases. "The population of Ashkenazi Jews is relatively homogenous, which facilitates gene discovery," said Ariel Darvasi, IDgene's president and a geneticist at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. The genes that cause diseases are easier to track in a homogenous population because there are fewer genetic differences in their DNA. "The homogeneity reduces the genetic noise and the signal comes out more clearly," said Dr. Darvasi. (Reuters)

posted by Howard @ 12/18/2001 10:35:15 AM