Question: Will you ever decide to look further into DNA and genetics to maybe use that as part of the blood test?

Sarah Thomas answered on 17 Mar 2011:

Well DNA and genetics is really interesting! It blows my mind that there’s this tangle of DNA inside every cell in your body, and that it is like a code, and controls everything!!

I don’t think I will get to research genetics as part of my blood test, but scientists at the my university do study it. They say that there is a link between genetics and cancer and that is why sometimes cancer can run in families (breat cancer is an example of that). So they are studying the genes that cause cancer that can get passed on through the generations of the family.

There are scientists at the uni that look at the DNA of embryos of people that are getting IVF (test tube babies for people that can’t get pregnant) and they can tell from the DNA if the embryo will develop into a healthy baby or if it would have a certain disease. It’s amazing that they can do that. So then they give the mother the healthiest embryo so it has the best chance of survival. They can also tell from the DNA that it will be a boy or a girl, but the parents are not allowed to choose the sex of the baby because that is illegal in this country…