Medical Genetics in 2020? What will we be able to do? What should we be able to do?

Scientists discover gene for asthma risk Tue 05 Jul 2005 Stem cells grown from human skin Thu 23 Jun 2005 Genes allow some older women to conceive Wed 22 Jun 2005 Cord blood banking: A new trend Tue 21 Jun 2005 Belgium scientists clone human embryos Mon 20 Jun 2005 Gene variations predict kidney disease Wed 15 Jun 2005 Shy? Blame your genes Mon 13 Jun 2005

1865 Gregor Mendel’s experiments on peas demonstrate the basic laws of inheritance Archibald Garrod, observes that the disease alkaptonuria has a genetic cause and is inherited as a recessive condition Thomas Hunt Morgan experiments on fruit flies to show that chromosomes carry genes Rosalind Franklin obtains sharp x-ray diffraction photographs of DNA Francis Crick and James Watson describe the double helix structure of DNA. A brief timeline…

1959 Down Syndrome is found to be caused by three copies of chromosome 21 NOT two DNA Sequencing method is invented Louise Brown, the first ‘test-tube baby’ is born Huntington’s disease… the first MUTATION SHOWN to cause disease is mapped to chromosome Human Genome Project is launched. The sequencing all 3.2 billion letters of the human genome is undertaken Chromosome 22 is sequenced 2003 Completion of the Human Genome sequencing. …A brief timeline…

What can we do in 2005?

Population Screening

Pharmacogenetics

Newborn Screening

Prenatal Diagnosis

Medical Genetics in 2020? What will we be able to do? What should we be able to do?