An international consortium consisting of Saudi Biosciences, Beijing Genomics Institute Shenzhen, and CLC bio have in a joint effort performed an initial sequencing and analysis of the first Arab human genome, as part of a large project to sequence 100 Arab human genomes to map the unique genetic variations of the Arab population.
After Saudi Biosciences launched this project in early 2008, an international joint collaboration with the Beijing Genomics Institute and CLC bio was organised. The high quality sequencing of this genome was generated using Illumina’s Genome Analyzer platform. Afterwards the data was assembled and analysed using CLC bio’s CLC Genomics Workbench.
The results, including analysis and identification of the unique variants of the Arab genome compared to African, European and Asian genomes, have been accumulated. The data is currently confidential but will be released following publication.
One of the most important goals of modern medicine and genetic research is the goal of tailoring medical care to an individual's needs, based on information from the individual's genotype or gene expression profile, so-called personalised medicine. Personalised medicine can offer huge advances in medical care, but can only succeed if the genetic variation of humans can be accurately mapped.