Accelerated Biology: Human Genetic Disorders: Home

Human Genetic Disorders Project

In this project, you will adopt the role of genetic counselor. Your job involves meeting with both potential parents interested in assessing the risks of having a child (e.g., are they carriers for a disease?) as well as those who are already pregnant and wish to consult about prenatal screening for their developing baby (e.g., does it have any genetic or chromosomal abnormalities?). Each of you will be tasked with providing a consultation to a family or individual, helping them to better understand a particular genetic disease. Your presentation to the class about your genetic disorder should mimic what you would tell your client in this situation. 

You of course want your clients to trust that you know what you are talking about, so outside research will be necessary to prepare for this meeting. Please be sure to refer to your book and several other sources when completing your research. Wikipedia is a great jumping-off point to familiarize yourself with the disorder, but it should not be your only source. Information found on Wikipedia should be corroborated with another source. Make use of the “references” section at the end of the Wikipedia article to help you with this. An MLA Works Cited of the sources your referenced is part of your grade.