Biobanks are a growing phenomenon in global biomedicine, as they are key tools of precision medicine initiatives. National biobanks, however, collect data and biological material from populations in specific regions, and the knowledge that national biobanks yield can impact understandings of identity, origins and belonging. Drawing on ethnographic work and documentary analysis examining the Israeli and Qatari national biobanks, I find that these two Middle Eastern biobanks aim to contribute to global biobanking trends, while at the same time, they reinforce local ethnic and national identities. The Israeli biobank reflects pre-existing ethnic identities in Israeli society, while the Qatari biobank predominantly emphasises the emergent national character of the Qatari population. Neither of the biobanks assert a high genetic homogeneity of the national population; rather, they both emphasise a genetically diverse national cohort that is a valuable resource for biomedical research. Through a comparative analysis of global biobanking and ethnic identities, this article demonstrates that biobanks are a rich site for tracking emergent national identities in the Middle East region.

生物库是全球生物医学中越来越多的现象，因为它们是精密医学计划的关键工具。然而，国家生物库从特定区域的人口中收集数据和生物材料，而有关国家生物库产量的知识可能会影响对身份，起源和归属的理解。借助民族志研究工作和文献分析，研究以色列和卡塔尔国家生物库，我发现这两个中东生物库旨在促进全球生物库发展趋势，同时又加强了当地的种族和民族身份。以色列生物库反映了以色列社会中先前存在的种族身份，而卡塔尔生物库则主要强调卡塔尔人口的新兴民族特征。这两个生物库都没有宣称全国人口的高度遗传同质性。相反，他们都强调了遗传多样性的国家队列，这是生物医学研究的宝贵资源。通过对全球生物银行和种族身份的比较分析，本文证明了生物银行是追踪中东地区新兴国家身份的丰富站点。