PHGFoundation

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DNA Test Methods

View the full Interactive Tutorial at:
http://www.phgfoundation.org/tutorials/dna/

Developed in collaboration with the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET).

Over the past 30 years, many techniques have been developed for detecting, copying, and sequencing DNA.

These techniques underlie major technological advances, such as the rapid progress in identifying genes associated with diseases and the large-scale study of the whole human genome.

Using Twin and Adoption Studies

View the full Interactive Tutorial at:
http://www.phgfoundation.org/tutorials/twinAdoption/

Developed in collaboration with the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET).

Many factors are known to be important in disease causation and these can include an individuals age, gender, genetic make-up and environmental factors that they have been exposed to, such as infectious agents or chemicals.

Not all individuals exposed to the same level of a risk factor, for the same length of time, will develop a particular disease. For example not everyone exposed to the same level of tobacco smoke for the same length of time, will develop mouth cancer. In other words some individuals are more susceptible while others are less susceptible.

This variability may be due to an individuals inherited genetic make-up and/or some other potentiating risk factor. Very rarely the susceptibility to develop a disease is entirely genetic or purely environmental; for most it is a combination of these factors.

Some diseases that are thought to have an inherited or genetic component are seen to cluster in families and affect more than one generation, but without a clear pattern of inheritance as for monogenic diseases. Examples of this include early onset cardiovascular disease and Type II diabetes. Identifying genetic variants that increase or decrease an individuals susceptibility to disease can potentially lead to the targeting of preventive measures at those who are at greatest risk. This may also give valuable insights into the underlying molecular processes at a cellular level that are important in disease causation, opening the way for new and novel therapies to improve the outcomes of those with disease or who are at risk of disease.

There are a number of different types of epidemiological study that are available to look at the degree of genetic influence in different diseases.

Pharmacogenomics

View the full Interactive Tutorial at:
http://www.phgfoundation.org/tutorials/pharmacogenomics/

Developed in collaboration with the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET).

Pharmacogenetics refers to the study of genetic influences on an individuals response to drugs. In pharmacogenetics, the analysis of a specific gene, or group of genes, may be used to predict responses to a specific drug or class of drugs.

Pharmacogenomics refers collectively to all the genes that influence drug responses, and how genome-wide analysis may be used to identify such genes in the search for novel drug targets and/or key determinants of drug reactions.

The effects of a specific dose of a specific drug will differ between individual recipients. A drug that is effective in one person may have no discernible therapeutic effect in another, whilst a third might show a partial response; in some, there may be undesirable side-effects.

There are multiple contributory factors to such variation in drug response, such as gender, age, body mass, diet, the presence of other drugs or of particular disease states and exposure to certain chemicals or toxins, such as cigarette smoke. In addition to these, genetic factors also influence drug response.

Moral Theories

View the full Interactive Tutorial at:
http://www.phgfoundation.org/tutorials/moral.theories/

Developed in collaboration with the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET).

The term ethics broadly describes the way in which we look at and understand life, in terms of good and bad or right and wrong. Moral theories are the frameworks we use to justify or clarify our position when we ask ourselves what should I do in this situation? or what is right or wrong for me? There are many moral theories and there is no one right theory. They converge and often borrow from one another. Three theories will be described here. Consequentialism and Deontology have dominated moral reasoning over the last 300 years; Bioethics, a common morality theory, is a recent theory that dominates current thinking in health care settings.

Disease Susceptibility

View the full Interactive Tutorial at:
http://www.phgfoundation.org/tutorials/variantsDisease/

Developed in collaboration with the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET).

Many factors are known to be important in disease causation and these can include an individuals age, gender, genetic make-up and environmental factors that they have been exposed to, such as infectious agents or chemicals.

Not all individuals exposed to the same level of a risk factor, for the same length of time, will develop a particular disease. For example not everyone exposed to the same level of tobacco smoke for the same length of time, will develop mouth cancer. In other words some individuals are more susceptible while others are less susceptible.

This variability may be due to an individuals inherited genetic make-up and/or some other potentiating risk factor. Very rarely the susceptibility to develop a disease is entirely genetic or purely environmental; for most it is a combination of these factors.

Some diseases that are thought to have an inherited or genetic component are seen to cluster in families and affect more than one generation, but without a clear pattern of inheritance as for monogenic diseases. Examples of this include early onset cardiovascular disease and Type II diabetes. Identifying genetic variants that increase or decrease an individuals susceptibility to disease can potentially lead to the targeting of preventive measures at those who are at greatest risk. This may also give valuable insights into the underlying molecular processes at a cellular level that are important in disease causation, opening the way for new and novel therapies to improve the outcomes of those with disease or who are at risk of disease.

There are a number of different types of epidemiological study that are available to look at the degree of genetic influence in different diseases.