albinism
For my research project I have chosen the genetic disease albinism. There are a few reasons why I chose albinism as my topic. First and foremost, in kindergarten I had a friend who was an albino, and although I have not seen him in over 10 years I am still curious as to what the causes of albinism are. Back then, my mother explained it to me by saying, "that's just the way his skin is" which is a fine way to explain it to a five year old, but now I find myself wanting to know more. Another reason I am curious about albinism actually extends from my first reason. I often wondered if there was any chance that my kids could possibly be born with it. I know now that it sounds a little bit ridiculous but I would sometimes worry that I wouldn't be able to take my children to the beach (I knew this because my friend from kindergarten could never come with us when we went in the summer). I also used to wonder whether or not my friend could see the same way I could, since his eyes looked so different from mine. As a result of all of this, I could not turn down the opportunity to research a disease that has held my curiosity for such a long time.The most prominent phenotypic characteristic of albinism is ob
Now that my study of albinism has come to an end, I feel what I can only describe as a sense of closure on a subject that has been (at least in some small part) in my thoughts for the past fifteen years. My knowledge of this disorder has come a long way since my curiosity about my kindergarten friend. Obviously my fear that I would catch the disease from him is long gone, but I wish I could say the same for some other more realistic fears. The mutations that cause albinism (and for that matter many other genetic disorders) remain something of an enigma. We know where they are, but we are still unable to prevent or repair many of them with any great rate of success. I'm sure that greater (or at least better-equipped) minds than mine have wondered what direction research in albinism should take, but in my opinion they should look into a cure for the disorder. Is there some way we can stimulate the OCA and TYR genes into correctly performing their jobs, or maybe introduce melanin directly into those suffering from this disorder? I think that once our scientists and researchers better understand the human genome and it inner workings, the cures for genetic diseases like albinism will follow shortly after. Then maybe my friend from kindergarten can finally come with us to the beach. viously the lack of skin coloring. Albino skin is whitish in appearance, sometimes seeming to be almost translucent. Similarly, albino hair is also very pale, appearing closer to white than blonde. Albinism makes the skin extremely sensitive to sunlight. Albinos need to be very careful about exposure to the sun as they have a very high risk of burning due to lack of protection from ultraviolet rays, which is normally provided by the pigment melanin (2). Similar to the skin, albino eyes also lack color; the irises usually
Some common words found in the essay are:
OCA TYR, PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERISTICS, INHERITANCE Albinism, , OCA1 OCA1, OCA2 OCA3, Thymine Albinism, MOLECULAR ORIGINS, ORIGINS Albinism, people albinism, oca1 gene, mutations cause albinism, albinism 2, melanin pigment, causes albinism, gene function, albinism affects, mutations cause, friend kindergarten, cause albinism, oca tyr genes,
Approximate Word count = 1219
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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