Centre for Arab Genomic Studies - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Centre for Arab Genomic Studies (CAGS) is a not-for-profit

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

study centre aimed at the characterization and prevention of
genetic disorder

Genetic disorder

A genetic disorder is an illness caused by abnormalities in genes or chromosomes, especially a condition that is present from before birth. Most genetic disorders are quite rare and affect one person in every several thousands or millions....

s in the Arab World

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

. Established in 2003 in accordance with the vision of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum is the Deputy Ruler of Dubai and the Minister of Finance and Industry of the United Arab Emirates . He is the second son of the late ruler, Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum ....

, Deputy Ruler of Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

, UAE, the Centre is closely associated with the Sheikh Hamdan Award for Medical Sciences

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences is an award given to honour individuals, universities, establishments and research centres all over the world for their outstanding achievements in the field of medicine....

. One of the major projects of CAGS is the Catalogue for Transmission Genetics in Arabs (CTGA), an online, freely
accessible database of genetic disorders reported from the Arab World. CAGS has been involved in the Human Variome Project

Human Variome Project

The Human Variome Project is the global initiative to collect and curate all human genetic variation affecting human health. Its mission is to improve health outcomes by facilitating the unification of data on human genetic variation and its impact on human health.-Inception:The HVP concept was...

as a representative of the Arab region, and has been one of the first organizations to take an active lead in working on the project. CAGS organizes the Pan Arab Human Genetics Conference every alternate year, to provide a platform for discussion and education on genetic issues in the region.

History

The Arab World

Arab

is notorious for the increased incidence of genetic disorder

Genetic disorder

s among the population. A large part of this is attributed to the widespread norm of consanguinity

Consanguinity

Consanguinity refers to the property of being from the same kinship as another person. In that respect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person...

in the region. Other factors include a social trend to have more children until menopause

Menopause

Menopause is a term used to describe the permanent cessation of the primary functions of the human ovaries: the ripening and release of ova and the release of hormones that cause both the creation of the uterine lining and the subsequent shedding of the uterine lining...

, selective factors favoring inherited disease characters like thalassemia

Thalassemia

Thalassemia is an inherited autosomal recessive blood disease that originated in the Mediterranean region. In thalassemia the genetic defect, which could be either mutation or deletion, results in reduced rate of synthesis or no synthesis of one of the globin chains that make up hemoglobin...

and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency is an X-linked recessive hereditary disease characterised by abnormally low levels of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase , a metabolic enzyme involved in the pentose phosphate pathway, especially important in red blood cell metabolism. G6PD deficiency is...

, and the lack of public awareness towards the early recognition and prevention of inherited disease. CAGS was born out of the vision of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum

, Deputy Ruler of Dubai

Dubai

and Minister of Finance and Industry, UAE

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

, to alleviate human suffering from genetic diseases in the Arab World. The Centre was inaugurated on 25 June 2003 by H.E. Hamad Abdul Rahman Al Midfaa, the then Minister of Health, and Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences

, at the Genetic Centre of Al Wasl Hospital. At present, offices of the Centre for Arab Genomic Studies are located within the premises of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for
Medical Sciences, Dubai, UAE.

Some of the priority objectives of CAGS are to educate the public and professionals alike on the important impact of genetic
diseases in the Arab World and the methods and benefits of early genetic diagnosis. CAGS also plans to provide comprehensive
genetic services by translating research achievements into well-integrated patient treatment programs. Concurrently, it will
also address the ethical, legal, and social issues that may arise with the implementation of such programs. A small number of
local scientists from the UAE constitute the Executive Board of CAGS, which helps in taking policy decisions for the Centre.
In late 2005, the Arab Council of CAGS was formed, which comprises leading geneticist

Geneticist

A geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...

s from different Arab countries. At present, the Council has representations from Bahrain

Bahrain

' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

, Kuwait

Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

, Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

, Oman

Oman

Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...

, Qatar

Qatar

Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

, Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

, and Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

. The Council was formed with an aim to facilitate the exchange of information on genetic disorders occurring in Arab countries and to be a medium for multidisciplinary collaborative research aiming at the identification and prevention of genetic disorders in the region.

CTGA Database

The Catalogue for Transmission Genetics in Arabs (CTGA) database

Database

A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...

is an enormous project, which aims to create a compendium of information related to the entire range of genetic disorders reported among Arabs. This information is available in a freely accessible form at the CAGS website. As of now, the database has information on about 1160 genetic disorders and related gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

s reported in Arab subjects. CAGS' strategy with regard to the CTGA database is to cover the spectrum of genetic diseases in each of the Arab countries one after the other, ultimately covering the entire Arab World. By December 2008, the database has finished its project with respect to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman, and hopes to complete its coverage of genetic disorders in Qatar within few more months.

Pan Arab Human Genetics Conference

The Pan Arab Human Genetics series of Conference is planned to be held every alternate year by the Centre as a means of providing a platform on dialogue and education for geneticists in the region, to share their knowledge and to talk on common issues. The first edition of the conference, held in 2006, was supported by the Human Genome Organization (HUGO), and attracted more than 500 delegates. This conference was preceded by a one-day workshop on "Fundamental Approaches in Molecular Diagnosis of Hemoglobinopathies".

The second Pan Arab Human Genetics Conference, held in November 2007, put more emphasis on the ethics

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

of genetic research.
This conference provided a one day public forum on the Ethical Perspective of Genetic Research; a forum which saw religious
leaders as well as genetic researchers discussing this very important issue. The scientific part of the congress lasted two
days, and was attended by well over 800 delegates, many of them from outside the Arab region. The conference was supported by the Dubai Health Authority, the Dubai Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department, the Human Variome Project, and HUGO. Other participating organizations included the Division of Ethics of Science and Technology, UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

, the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, NIH

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...

, and the journal, Nature Genetics. Like the previous conference, a two-day pre-conference workshop on the Applications of FISH

Fluorescent in situ hybridization

FISH is a cytogenetic technique developed by biomedical researchers in the early 1980s that is used to detect and localize the presence or absence of specific DNA sequences on chromosomes. FISH uses fluorescent probes that bind to only those parts of the chromosome with which they show a high...

technology in Cytogenetyics was also held as part of the program of the conference.

Human Variome Project

CAGS was a participant in the preliminary meeting to discuss the conception of the Human Variome Project

Human Variome Project

(HVP), held in
Melbourne, Australia, in 2006. Ever since, CAGS has actively worked towards the Arab Human Variome Project (AHVP), in collaboration with its Arab Council members. Several meeting have been held with the members of the Council, as well as the Director of the HVP in order to understand the nature of work involved, and to initiate the project in the region.

Human Genome Organization

CAGS shares very close ties with the Human Genome Organization (HUGO). HUGO served as a prominent supporter of both concluded editions of the PAHG Conference. In addition, CAGS with the help of the Dubai World Trade Centre

Dubai World Trade Centre

The Dubai World Trade Centre is a business complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, built by H.H. Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. It is located along Sheikh Zayed Road at the Trade Centre Roundabout...

and Dubai Convention Bureau, has made a successful bid for hosting the HUGO Annual Human Genome Meet (HGM) 2011 in Dubai . In addition, the Centre also plans to collaborate with HUGO in hosting a scientific symposium in Dubai in late 2009, on the topic of Genetics and Hereditable Disorders. The symposium will punctuate the drafting of a HUGO-WHO (World Health Organisation) white paper on Genomics and Hereditable Disorders.

Publications

The Centre has published the first two volumes of its book "Genetic Disorders in the Arab World", which is a consequence of
its work on cataloguing the Arab genetic disorders. The first volume of this book gives special emphasis on the data from
United Arab Emirates, whereas the second volume deals specially with the Kingdom of Bahrain. A third volume, with the final
results from the Sultanate of Oman, is expected soon. Another book published by CAGS is a User's Guide on the CTGA database.
All books are freely downloadable from the CAGS website (http://cags.org.ae/publications.html)

As part of its campaign to educate the general public about genetic disorders and their consequences, CAGS released a pocket-book collection of bilingual (English and Arabic) pamphlets on six common genetic blood disorders in the region. Each of
these leaflets provides a general description of an inherited blood disorder, along with its symptoms and major characteristics, and follows it up with causes and risk factors, diagnosis and management of the disease. Also provided in
each leaflet is information on studies undertaken in the Arab world on the disease.

Scientific articles published by the Centre include articles in the Nucleic Acids Research

Nucleic Acids Research

Nucleic Acids Research is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Oxford University Press. It covers research on nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, and related work. Some of its content is available under an open access license. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal's 2010...

, American Journal of Human Genetics

American Journal of Human Genetics

The American Journal of Human Genetics is a medical journal in the field of human genetics. Since its inception in 1948 by the American Society of Human Genetics, the journal has provided a record of research and review relating to heredity in humans and to the application of genetic principles in...

, and American Journal of Medical Genetics.

External links

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History

CTGA Database

Pan Arab Human Genetics Conference

Human Variome Project

Human Genome Organization

Publications

See also

External links