5 Facts to Teach your Grandparents About Automated Genotyping
1. What is automated genotyping? And why should you care?
Automated Genotyping is a medical technology that allows scientists to identify a person’s unique genetic make-up contained within ones DNA. This breakthrough technology allows doctors to enhance any medical treatment. The procedure is simple. Through a blood sample, hair sample, or a swab of the inside cheek, the doctor can collect a sample of your DNA to be sent for testing.
Why should you care? Its benefits include your own personal medical treatment. You can live a longer, more comfortable life by having the knowledge of understanding just how your body is made up genetically. Testing will also help determine your family’s gene make up and possible conditions. Finally, the more genes are studied, the more scientists and doctors can work together in treatment and prevention of serious medical conditions.
2. Genotyping can confirm or rule out conditions that you feel you have or are at risk of developing.
The microscopic testing of DNA allows them to pinpoint the strands or alleles, of the DNA, to determine if a condition exists. This technology is not entirely new as it is used in other places around the world like the UK, Australia, and Iceland. In those places, automated genotyping is a routine test for people with hemophilia (a dangerous blood clotting disorder). Through identifying which set of alleles and the exact location of the mutation, it provides potent information for handling a patient by using methods that are more comprehensive.
3. You have the upper hand in your medical treatment.
In the event that a person develops a disease or health concern, genotyping can help doctors treat you with the correct medication and dosage that works best for your body by predicting how your body will react to a specific medication. A person’s genetic makeup is so distinct that it causes each of us to react differently to the same medicine. Having this knowledge helps doctors read the very specific code that is held inside of you. It can even help determine the correct dosage. This is extremely beneficial to getting better and saving time with trying out other medications that will not work correctly and/or cause negative side effects.
4. Having the automated genotype testing done can greatly benefit your family.
Since we pass our genes on to our younger generations, we know that a person’s family will inherit the same genetic mutations (whether they actually come out or not is a whole other story). Having this knowledge becomes extremely beneficial to your children and your future generations when it comes time for family planning. By knowing which gene is affected, testing becomes more cost effective because scientists can focus on studying/testing a very specific gene or set of alleles to rule out any concerns.
5. Genotyping can be helpful to medical research to future generations.
Transnetyx said, “Through the study of DNA, scientists have already identified where genes have mutated in diseases like breast cancer and hemophilia.” The more this technology is used, the more helpful it can be to other diseases. It would help scientist research the formation of these mutations of genes by looking at how they form. Mutations are only confirmed when scientists have a clear grasp of which gene is responsible for a specific disease/condition. Having this type of grasp on knowledge will benefit our future generations with diagnosing, comfortably treating and curing infectious diseases. In fact, there is talk about mandating genotyping because it is known to be so important in the success of our present and future health care world.