Centre to detect rare genetic disorders opens in Dubai

The UAE launched a first-of-its-kind genome centre that will diagnose and treat kids with rare disorders, boost local genomic research, and train the country’s next generation of scientists.

Called Centre for Genomic Discovery, It was launched during the university’s participation at Arab Health 2021.

The project was the result of a collaborative partnership between the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) and Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital (AJCH).

Dr Ahmad Abou Tayoun, director of Al Jalila Children’s Genomics Center and Associate Professor of Genetics at MBRU said that the centre would seek to engage paediatric patients with suspected hereditary disorders that usual genomic testing failed to identify. Researchers will analyse the patients’ negative genetic data for any possible novel findings.

Professor Stefan Du Plessis, founding dean of research and graduate studies at MBRU and a member of the centre’s steering committee revealed that the Centre for Genomic Discovery has already begun investigations into the cause of a genetic disease in one family within the UAE with promising progress.