Systemic sclerosis (Ssc) is a rare disease in which collagen gloms up internal organs and toughens the skin into an armor of…
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post Gene Action Tracks an Autoimmune Disease: Systemic Sclerosis
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post Genetics in 2016: Breakthrough, Breakdown, and Bridge
I dislike end-of-year “best of” lists, especially the “breakthroughs” that imply scientific discoveries and medical advances emerge from out of nowhere. Often…
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post Linking Gaucher and Parkinson’s Diseases
This month, JScreen’s “Spit Happens” campaign is covering all costs not met by insurance for testing for carrier status for Gaucher disease, thanks…
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post Parent Roundtable: Before and After Gene Therapy
I dedicate this post – my 200th here at DNA Science – to the rare disease families I’ve met since starting this…
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post Yo-Yo Dieting: Blame Microbiome and Fewer Flavonoids
Today begins phase 1 of the holiday season, with eating, eating, and more eating. Then comes phase 2, on January 2. Hordes…
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post Alani’s Life With Lipodystrophy
We tend to think of fat as the enemy when it bulges over our waistlines. But fats are essential to survival. We…
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post Prenatal Genetic Testing of Pap Smears: Papoose?
Anthony Weiner and Woody Allen have the same favorite organ; mine is the placenta. The amazing placenta literally links generations, and if…
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post Inferno Revisited and Genetic Illiteracy
Today as the film version of Dan Brown’s novel Inferno opens, starring Tom Hanks fresh off his Saturday Night Live performance, I’m…
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post How the Pangolin Got Its Scales – A Genetic Just-So Story
Everyone loves animal oddities. Darwin and Lamarck pondered the advantages of the giraffe’s long legs and neck, while a few decades later…
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post 3 Gene Editing Approaches for Sickle Cell Disease
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a perfect candidate for gene editing. It is perhaps the best understood single-gene condition, due to a…
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post Why I Hate the Term “3-Parent Baby’”
A healthy baby boy has been born following mitochondrial manipulation technology (MMT). It was bound to happen, and might offer an alternative…
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post Finding The Famous Painting of the Blue People of Kentucky
Most stories about the blue people of Kentucky include an eerie, compelling drawing of a family, with the stark faces of 5…