NASAScientists around the world face obstacles during their research—a rejected manuscript, a failed funding application, an illegible electrophoresis gel. But these annoyances are simply par for the course when doing science. In the Middle East, however, scientists are up against much steeper challenges—a lesson I learned all too well when I finished my PhD and postdoc at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom and returned to my native Kuwait.
In Glasgow, research was facilitated and encouraged. We had several well-trained technicians, up-to-date equipment, and a reasonable amount of funding to support our work. But when I moved home in 1999, full of energy, enthusiasm, and patriotism, I was disappointed to find that science here was not nearly as well supported. Not only is funding hard to come by, excessive regulations can actively slow the process of doing science.
I’ve stayed because I am driven by the need to serve my people, and to explore their unique genetic background. The population of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is a mixture of many cultures that encompasses considerable genetic diversity. Moreover, many MENA populations exhibit unusual rates of consanguineous marriage—as high as 70 percent ...
