Genomics project takes off

Bahrain’s Ministry of Health has launched the Genome Project website. The Bahrain Genome Project is one that will allow scientists to study genomics, a discipline in genetics that applies several methods to sequence, assemble and analyze the function and structure of the complete set of DNA within a cell of an organism, be it humans, plants, animals or microorganisms. Genomics is vital for major advances in healthcare for developing targeted diagnostics and therapeutic approaches by identifying individual susceptibility to different diseases and individual response to different methods of treatment said the Health Ministry in a release issued.

The mission of the project is to identify the genetic basis of diseases such as Sickle Cell Disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart diseases, and accordingly, enhance research into effective and safe individualized health care. The Bahrain Genome Project can accelerate Bahrain’s Grand 2020 vision of becoming the first nation in the world to fully know its biological makeup, and this will drive advances in the medical field for many decades to come.