The geneticist and biomedical engineer Habiba-Sayeed-Alsafar and her team conducted the first genetic study on diabetes in the Bedouin population. Her research identified genetic risk factors for diabetes among the Bedouin population, including five genes associated with type 2 diabetes, among which the most notable one was the PRKD1 gene.

This finding is remarkably relevant due to the high diabetes prevalence in the United Arab States, which is the second highest prevalence of diabetes worldwide.