Results Could Shed Light on Origins of Various Diseases Jun 3, 2010 -- Using sophisticated genetic analysis, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and New York University School of Medicine have published a study indicating that Jews are a widely dispersed people with a common ancestry. Jews from different regions of the world were found to share many genetic traits that are distinct from other groups and that date back to ancient times. The study also provides the first detailed genetic maps of the major Jewish subpopulations, a resource that can be used to study the genetic origins of disease. The findings appear in the June 3 online issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics. “This study provides new genomic information that can benefit not only those of Jewish ancestry, but the population at large,” said co-author Edward Burns, M.D., executive dean and professor of pathology and of medicine at Einstein. “By providing a comprehensive genetic fingerprint of various Jewish subpopulations, it can help us understand genetic links to heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other common diseases.” Read full article here...