2010 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript

This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2010. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.

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Will it ever be possible to cure genetic disorders? And if so how?      David Adams, M.D., Ph.D.: David Adams studies rare inborn errors of metabolism and other rare genetic syndromes to understand the disease process and identify potential treatments. That is a great question! The answer is yes, depending somewhat on your definition of "cure". Some conditions can be "cured" by giving a medicine. A good example is biotinidase deficiency, an enzyme deficiency that can be treated very successfully with biotin therapy. In the future, genes will be able to be introduced into the body to "replace" the function of genes that are not working. A example currently being studied is adenosine deaminase deficiency, which causes an immune deficiency. Peru High School in IN (11th grade student)

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