Genetics and Progeria: The Disease of Premature Aging

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�PAGE � �PAGE �6� Genetics and Progeria

Genetics and Progeria

The Disease of Premature Aging

Team C

Winston McCane

Monica Krug

Robert Novak

Jeffrey Schneider (FAC)

December 15, 2004

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Genetics and Progeria; The Disease of Premature Aging

Genetics has made some fantastic advances recently in science. For all that we

have learned, we still haven't found the answers to everything. The last three or four decades have witnessed an unquestionable revolution occurring in the study of genetics. Since the 1940's when DNA first was clearly postulated, up to the discovery of the nature of the genetic code in the 1960's when DNA was proved to be a storehouse of genetic information, researchers in genetic engineering have become almost commonplace. Then why haven't we found the answers to life, you might ask? Well for as much as we know we are still making discoveries everyday. As is evidenced in the study of Progeria a genetic disease that causes premature aging, it will be apparent how much further we have to go.

In today's world we take it for granted that every one knows what genetics are and how we study it. The study of genes and DNA help us traverse the world of medical mystery. In the study of genes and the function is the study of disorders or rather anomalies within the gene make-ups of various individuals that caused malfunctions, or disorders. Genetic disorders are medical conditions caused by mutations in a gene or a set of genes. Mutations are changes in the DNA sequence of a gene. DNA is the chemical in side the nucleus of a cell that carries the generic instructions for making living organisms. They can happen at any time in our lives including when we are first forma dn a single cell right up...