Genetics Related Articles & Blog Posts

Many genetic diseases occur more frequently in people of certain ethnic backgrounds. That is why it is important to understand how your ethnic background affects your risk to have a child with a genetic disease.

Thankfully, most babies are born healthy, but every pregnancy is at risk for a birth defect. That is why is may be helpful to speak with a genetic counselor, a medical professional trained in assessing the risk for birth defects and genetic disorders, before or during your pregnancy.

There are a number of reasons why your pediatrician may recommend that your child meet with a medical geneticist, a doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and management of genetic diseases and syndromes. Some of these reasons include:

Every year it seems like more and more genetic tests are offered during pregnancy. Due to a recent recommendation made by the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG), the latest carrier test to be offered by OB/GYNs and genetic specialists is for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

Making a family tree can be much more than just an interesting hobby.  You can create a “healthful” legacy for your children by adding information about the diseases that have occurred in your family – turning your family tree into a family health tree.

Thanks to the largest and most ambitious scientific study  to ever look into what makes someone susceptible to autism, we now have a new  layer of understanding about this important condition. First, a little  background: Autism spectrum disorders are now found in about 1 in 166 children,  with a big impact on the kids themselves, [...]

Cord Blood I love being able to help my children give gifts. For Mother’s Day and for my wife’s birthday, it’s a treat for me to get a sense of what the kids want to give, and to provide what they need in order to make it happen. Perhaps all it takes is a few [...]

What’s Best for Your Family? Parents are often confronted with brochures asking them to make an expensive investment in collecting and storing their baby’s cord blood. How to decide?

In Dr. Greene’s groundbreaking book From First Kicks to First Steps he describes how eye colors (and many other things) are inherited. How will the traits of Mom and Dad combine to create a brand new life?

Not all kids are affected the same way by exposure to smoke in their environments. Tobacco smoke is a complex mixture of toxic gases and toxic particles, over 4000 chemicals in all. Repeated exposure will cause asthma in some children, but not in others. Is there any way to tell which are which?