• Question: What have you found out about how our genes affect our health

    Asked by @Shannon to Katherine on 23 Apr 2020.
    • Photo: Katherine Benson

      Katherine Benson answered on 23 Apr 2020:

      In our lab, people who are really sick with epilepsy or kidney problems provide us with a sample of their blood or saliva. We take their DNA from these samples and look for small changes in their genes. I match up these changes with the features of the patient’s disease (like what type of seizures they have, or how their kidneys look when we take a picture of them in the hospital). Once we find the change in their genes that’s making them sick, we can use that information to help their doctors to treat them.

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