RG-Israel was established in order to support local Israeli patients with rare genetic diseases of unknown origin, based on the same model of The Rare Genomics Institute (RG-USA). RG-Israel works in close collaboration and under the guidance of RG-USA. The Israeli population is composed of a unique genetic pool. The combined USA-Israel teams can leverage this collection of genomes together with current knowledge and tools to better understand the cause of rare genetic diseases.

Dr. Noam Shomron is the Director of RG-Israel. Dr. Shomron heads a research team which focuses on the analysis of genomic sequences and gene expression in order to better understand human diseases. Dr. Shomron trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA) where he combined high-throughput methods with computational analysis. He joined Tel Aviv University’s Medical School in October 2008. Dr Shomron is highly skilled in deep (next generation) sequencing technologies, in addition to parsing and processing sequencing output. Dr. Shomron’s overall interest and goals are in seeking a better understanding of the mechanisms leading to disease development. His team establishes innovative solutions to generate a significant impact through translating ideas into clinical reality. Dr. Shomron is also co-founder and Scientific Director of the Functional Genomics Laboratory at Tel Aviv University; Editor-in-Chief of ‘Genetics Research’ (published by Cambridge University Press); Editor of ‘Deep Sequencing Data Analysis’ (a ‘Methods in Molecular Biology’ book series published by Springer/Humana Press), and Academic Director of BioAbroad.