Population Genetics

Motif’s genetic efforts were founded on the well-established principle that human “founder” populations will have only a fraction of the genetic variability that is observed within populations that are more typical of those studied in contemporary GWA studies, such as those studied in the UK, US, and Europe. Hence, our studies have been focused on “founder” populations around the world, most notably those in the Arabian Gulf and North Africa. 

Genetics of Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension, and other Metabolic Diseases

In our collaboration with Professor Philippe Froguel (Imperial College London and Pasteur Institute), Motif has made a number of novel findings on the genetics of T2D, hypertension, and other metabolic conditions such as obesity and dyslipidemia.  This study began as a GWA analysis of 493 Moroccan subjects.  While a few of our findings replicated those seen in European population, most were entirely novel.  Thirty-seven (37) of our most robust novel findings from the GWA study have now been advanced to a replication study of an additional 1,454 Moroccan subjects.  Several of these have now been replicated in this independent sample of subjects, paving the way for more intense investigation into the functional significance of these findings and into their development as potential diagnostics and/or therapeutic targets.

There is strong scientific evidence that genes have a very minor role in producing susceptibility to T2D in European populations will have a much more pronounced influence, and hence be detectable, in the founder populations that we study.  Note that even though such genes would be minor contributors to disease, they could open up entirely novel pathways and targets for therapeutic intervention.  A proven model for this approach is statin’s target HMG-CoA Reductase (HMGR). While HMGR itself causes only a trivial fraction of dyslipidemia, as the target of all statins it is at the heart of a $20B franchise within the pharmaceutical industry.

Motif Population Genetics Team:


Kevin Arnold, Ph.D., Executive Director, Genomics
Faisal H.S. Al-Refaei, MD, MSc, Regional Director, Middle East
Joelle van der Walt, Ph.D., Project Coordinator, Molecular Genetics
Manish Pungliya, Consultant, Bioinformatics


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