Cheryl Scacheri: Lead Editor

All Articles Within Genetics and Society (38)

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Genetic Diagnosis and Disease Risks (5)

• Diagnosing Down Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis, Tay-Sachs Disease, and Other Genetic Disorders
  A genetic screen can potentially diagnose more than 1,200 genetic disorders and chromosomal abnormalities. If you were a medical geneticist, how would you pick the best test for your patient?
• Genetic Counseling: Genetic Testing, Family History, and Psychosocial Evaluation
  A woman with a recent diagnosis of breast cancer is worried about her daughters' risk for the disease. What sort of guidance might a genetic counselor provide in this situation and others like it?
• Calculation of Complex Disease Risk
  How do you determine a person’s absolute risk for a complex genetic disease if they have just one or two susceptibility genes in their family history?
• Genetic Variation and Disease: GWAS
  Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) help scientists understand the inheritance patterns of disorders on a global scale. But can we make predictions from these studies?
• Genetic Diagnosis: DNA Microarrays and Cancer
  Since their development in the mid-1990s, DNA microarrays have become a key tool in the fight against cancer. But just how do they help diagnose and treat patients?

Genetic Testing and Human Impact (8)

• Prenatal Screen Detects Fetal Abnormalities
  How can prospective parents ensure that they will have a healthy baby? Prenatal testing can provide parents with information about their child’s genetic identity.
• DTC Genetic Testing: 23andme, DNA Direct and Genelex
  Genetic screening companies offer direct to consumer (dtc) genetic tests that let you check your genetic predisposition for diseases without a doctor's order! Would you buy one?
• DTC Genetic Testing for Diabetes, Breast Cancer, Heart Disease and Paternity
  Just because testing can be done without the advice of a doctor, does that mean it should be? This controversy lies at the heart of the field of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing.
• Genetic Inequality: Human Genetic Engineering
  As genetics allows us to turn the tide on human disease, it's also granting the power to engineer desirable traits into humans. What limits should we create as this technology develops?
• Human Subjects and Diagnostic Genetic Testing
  There is a vital need for human subjects in research related to drug development, but can we properly balance the welfare of human research subjects with the need for experimental data?
• Heritability of Human Intelligence: IQ and Eugenics
  How can we measure heritability to determine what amount of the complex trait of human intelligence is inherited? Also, what are the potential consequences of knowing the answer to this question?
• Human Testing, the Eugenics Movement, and IRBs
  The eugenics movement of the early 1900s ultimately went horribly wrong despite its noble aims. What can we learn from this movement’s outcomes in order to avoid the repetition of these mistakes?
• Questionable Prognostic Value of Genetic Testing
  Many experts predict that genetic testing for disease susceptibility is well on its way to becoming a routine part of clinical care. Yet many of the genetic tests currently being developed are, in the words of the World Health Organization (WHO), of “questionable prognostic value.” How can this be?

Ethical Considerations (9)

• Medical Ethics: Genetic Testing and Spinal Muscular Atrophy
  The mutation that causes Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) can be detected in a prenatal screen. But a parent's decision to test for this terrible disease is not as easy as you would think.
• Genetic Inequality: Human Genetic Engineering
  As genetics allows us to turn the tide on human disease, it's also granting the power to engineer desirable traits into humans. What limits should we create as this technology develops?
• Human Testing, the Eugenics Movement, and IRBs
  The eugenics movement of the early 1900s ultimately went horribly wrong despite its noble aims. What can we learn from this movement’s outcomes in order to avoid the repetition of these mistakes?
• Bioethics in Genetics
  Can bioethics ever represent too much of a good thing? Where exactly is the line between too little and too much protection for patients in genetic counseling, research, and testing?
• Diagnostic Testing and the Ethics of Patenting DNA
  Intellectual property rights offset the financial risks of funding research but limit information access. Can a balance between private interests and public desire for treatments be achieved?
• Embryo Screening and the Ethics of Human Genetic Engineering
  What if you could screen embryos for diseases before they became babies? What if you had the power to choose the traits your baby would have? Would you use it?
• Protecting Your Genetic Identity: GINA and HIPAA
  Genomics could enable the misuse and abuse of our most personal information. On the other hand, could genetic privacy acts like GINA and HIPAA close the shutters on progress in health research?
• Questionable Prognostic Value of Genetic Testing
  Many experts predict that genetic testing for disease susceptibility is well on its way to becoming a routine part of clinical care. Yet many of the genetic tests currently being developed are, in the words of the World Health Organization (WHO), of “questionable prognostic value.” How can this be?
• Ethics of Genetic Testing: Medical Insurance and Genetic Discrimination
  For disorders that are preventable or treatable, most people agree that genetic testing makes sense. But for diseases with no preventative measures, would you want to know if you were affected?

Genetically-Tailored Treatment (6)

• Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine
  Can doctors predict who should take certain medications and who will suffer side effects? With personalized medicine, physicians may be able to use genetic profiles to make treatment choices.
• Pharmacogenetics, Personalized Medicine, and Race
  Could your ethnic background determine the drug treatments you receive? Believe it or not, race is sometimes considered when predicting how patients will respond to different medications.
• Gene Therapy
  Can you stop LCA, a form of blindness caused by a change in a single base pair, simply by injecting a viral vector with the right nucleotide sequence? Unfortunately, gene therapy is not this simple.
• Controversies in Treatment Approaches: Gene Therapy, IVF, Stem Cells, and Pharmacogenomics
  Are we employing new medical technologies, like gene therapy, stem cells, and pharmacogenomics, too soon for our own good?
• Personalized Medicine: Hope or Hype?
  Hippocrates used a person’s physique and the seasons to personalize treatments for his patients. The modern scientific industry hopes to use your DNA.
• Using SNP Data to Examine Human Phenotypic Differences
  Genetic variation among human races can be observed in almost any trait, from the physical and biochemical, to disease resistance. What role do single nucleotide polymorphisms play in this?

Social Uses of Genetic Discovery (7)

• Genetic Inequality: Human Genetic Engineering
  As genetics allows us to turn the tide on human disease, it's also granting the power to engineer desirable traits into humans. What limits should we create as this technology develops?
• Forensics, DNA Fingerprinting, and CODIS
  How ethical is it to keep a database of convicted felons' DNA profiles? Can we rely on DNA fingerprints for conviction? Many ethical issues surround the use of DNA in forensic technology.
• Paternity Testing: Blood Types and DNA
  The modern-day paternity test compares a baby’s DNA profile to the potential father’s. How did we ever manage it before genetics?
• Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): Transgenic Crops and Recombinant DNA Technology
  If you could save lives by producing vaccines in transgenic bananas, would you? In the debate over large-scale commercialization and use of GMOs, where should we draw the line?
• Medical Careers: Genetic Screening and Diagnostics
  Rapid developments in genetics have transformed our understanding of disease, and the medical profession. Where could you fit in?
• Sports, Gene Doping, and WADA
  Gene doping could stretch the physical limits of human strength and endurance. What are the consequences of gene therapy in sports competition, and more, importantly, is it safe?
• Ontologies: Scientific Data Sharing Made Easy
  An ontology is a logic-based organizational structure for knowledge. Ontologies speed genetic discovery by allowing researchers to quickly find and compare data from multiple sources.

Genetics and the Law (5)

• Diagnostic Testing and the Ethics of Patenting DNA
  Intellectual property rights offset the financial risks of funding research but limit information access. Can a balance between private interests and public desire for treatments be achieved?
• Protecting Your Genetic Identity: GINA and HIPAA
  Genomics could enable the misuse and abuse of our most personal information. On the other hand, could genetic privacy acts like GINA and HIPAA close the shutters on progress in health research?
• Forensics, DNA Fingerprinting, and CODIS
  How ethical is it to keep a database of convicted felons' DNA profiles? Can we rely on DNA fingerprints for conviction? Many ethical issues surround the use of DNA in forensic technology.
• Legislative Landmarks of Forensics: California v. Greenwood and Shed DNA
  Everywhere we go, we leave our DNA behind. Forensics profits from this “abandoned” DNA to solve crimes. As technology improves, could we wind up with a database of everyone’s DNA – including yours?
• Sports, Gene Doping, and WADA
  Gene doping could stretch the physical limits of human strength and endurance. What are the consequences of gene therapy in sports competition, and more, importantly, is it safe?