Talia Bloch


New Technology Identifies Genes Behind Rare Eye Disorder

By Talia Bloch

New Technology Identifies Genes Behind Rare Eye Disorder
Scientists are using a revolutionary technique to pinpoint genetic problems that cause a rare eye disorder. It could transform treatments and prevent blindness.Read More


Could Kashrut Be Partly To Blame for Crohn's Disease?

By Talia Bloch

Could Kashrut Be Partly To Blame for Crohn's Disease?
Jews are much more likely than others to contract Crohn’s disease, leading scientists to suspect a genetic link. Could kosher diet and an urban lifestyle be the real cause?Read More


Limits of The Sacred, Limits of Representation

By Talia Bloch

Limits of The Sacred, Limits of Representation
For Allen Grossman, a poet of prodigious gifts and the most recent winner of the prestigious Bollingen Prize in American Poetry, a successful poem does not merely give voice to human experience. It is an expression of human existence itself.Read More


Discovering the Newest Jewish Genetic Disease

By Talia Bloch

Discovering the Newest Jewish Genetic Disease
One day, about four years ago, a young couple came to Dr. Alan Shanske’s office looking for help. They had already been to numerous doctors, but none of them was able to diagnose their 4-year-old son.Read More


Enlisting Rabbis in the Push for Screening

By Talia Bloch

Enlisting Rabbis in the Push for Screening
“My wife and I were married by two rabbis, one Conservative and the other Reform, and neither of them gave us any information about Jewish genetic diseases.” So begins the story of Lawrence Sernovitz, himself now an associate rabbi at the Old York Road Temple-Beth Am in Abington, Pa. A little more than a year later, in September 2008, Sernovitz and his wife had a baby boy born with familial dysautonomia, a rare recessive genetic disorder essentially found exclusively among Ashkenazi Jews.Read More