Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

A Quick Read of Your Genes

Today's "Wired News" has a good story on the progress that is being made in genetic analysis. This technology is valuable because it will allow people to get a gene scan done on themselves to identify their level of predisposition towards different diseases - like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder - and then take appropriate actions to minimize getting the disease (such as avoiding street drugs, etc.).

Here is a short excerpt from the story:

"TAGCTAAGTCGGATT � the readout tells the story of your genetic makeup, and it will soon tell you what genes you carry, what mutations there are and whether you should be worried.

Each letter represents one of the genetic bases -� adenine (A), thymine (T) cytosine (C) and guanine (G). Add the letters together and, eventually, you get the story of your genetic life. You can�t skip to the last chapter to find out how it ends, but this test will give you a peek at some of the characters -- the genes -- that may play a role.

You entered the office of your family doctor just an hour ago and, as you wait for the scan to complete, you wonder if the genetic test was a good idea. There are some things, perhaps, you would rather not know.

For the full story, go to:

A Quick Read of Your Genes - by Wired News