The National Laboratory for the Genetics of Israeli Population
The National Laboratory for the Genetics of Israeli Populations (NLGIP) is located at the Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, The Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel. It was initially funded by the Israel Council for Higher Education and established in 1995 by the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Israel is a unique living genetic laboratory owing to the fact that there are many different immigrant populations in a very small geographical area, with a low rate of admixture, and ethnic diversity of Jewish, Arab and local minorities populations. Therefore, this rare biobank for human cell lines and DNA samples represents the diversity of variation across individuals within multiple ethnic groups (self-defined by donors).
​
Currently, the laboratory has over 2,000 immortalized human lymphoblastoid cell lines, representing healthy individuals and families of ~20 ethnic backgrounds. De-identified samples include information regarding age, height, weight, smoking habits, volunteered named chronic conditions and a brief family history. DNA samples and cell lines from this repository were constructive in scores of international research projects in various fields of human biology and medicine, including the pharmacogenomics of drug metabolizing enzymes, drug transporters, and drug target genes.
​
The NLGIP is a member of the EuroBioBank, that provides DNA, cell and tissue samples for research on rare diseases and biomedical research through a network of biobanks worldwide (including from Israel, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, Turkey and Canada). The NLGIP is also affiliated with the USA National Institute of Health Pharmacogenetics Research Network (PharmGKB), the European Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI), and has contributed to the CEPH Human Genome Diversity Cell Line Panel, as well as to the USA-based Coriell Cell Repositories.
​
The NLGIP is supporting research in the expanding field of precision medicine and the development of targeted genetic treatments for disease.
