2000+and+Beyond+-+genetics

**Impact of Medicine on This Time**

 We are living in interesting times. Daily we are faced with new challenges and the ever-increasing pace of scientific and technological development. Perhaps one of the most exciting developments is the completion of the full sequencing of the Human Genome and the benefits it promises for humankind. Greater understanding of how our bodies function, how our genes contribute to the diseases we suffer and how we age, should lead to major advances in the way in which we deal with disease and may affect our attitudes to ageing, reproduction and how we live our lives.

**10 facts**


 * If unwound and tied together, strands of DNA from a human would be longer than five feet long but only 50 trillionths of an inch in width.
 * Downs Syndrome is caused by a third copy of Chromosome 21.
 * Cystic Fibrosis is caused by a mutation in Chromosome 7.
 * Sickle Cell anemia is caused by a mutation in Chromosome 11.
 * Variations in a DNA sequence directly relate to and may have a major impact on how an individual responds to disease, environmental insults (bacteria, viruses, toxins, and chemicals), drugs, and other therapies.
 * Scientists who study karyotypes are called cytogenetisists.
 * A karyotype can identify the presence of the correct amount and content of DNA as well as the sex of an individual. They also can tell if the person is infertile, or not.
 * The father determines whether a child is male or female. The female always sends one "X" Chromosome, and the male sends either an "X" or a "Y" Chromosome.
 * 1 in 180 babies have genetic deformities.
 * Artificial chromosomes were created in yeast in the early 1980s, and the first artificial human chromosomes were created in the same medium in 1997. Medical applications of the artificial human chromosomes may include their use as vectors for moving therapeutic genes into cells to treat such diseases as sickle-cell anemia, hemophilia, and immune deficiencies.

**The Role Science is Playing at this Tme**

 The birth of modern genetics, which occurred in the 20th century, accelerated the study of all these areas of science. Now, at the start of the 21st century, opportunities have never been greater for turning scientific knowledge into better health for all.

**Major Medical Advancements**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> The last decade's advances have been amazing. We have the complete sequence of the DNA letters of the 60,000 or so working genes needed to make a human being, and will soon have that of all the so-called "junk" DNA sequence (which may reveal that it does more than its name implies). 10,000 different diseases have an inherited component, and - in principle at least - we know the genes involved.

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