부산대학교 도서관

The article presents an interview with two molecular geneticists. Moien Kanaan and Karen Avraham are on opposite sides of one of the world's most bitter conflicts. He a Palestinian living in Bethlehem, she an Israeli in Tel Aviv. Yet they work together and are friends. Both are molecular geneticists trying to uncover the genetic basis of hearing loss. In Palestine there are large numbers of families who suffer genetic hearing loss. There is a high rate of inbreeding, 40 to 50 per cent of all marriages are arranged within the extended family or between first cousins. This leads to certain recessive disorders, including hearing loss and blood disorders such as thalassaemia. They improvise by paying local medical labs in little towns and villages to collect samples and arrange special ambulances to bring blood and samples to Bethlehem.