Congratulations!  You are going to have twins! You and your spouse are excited, but you found out recently from an intern, who is a doctor in training, that there are problems and your children will both be born with a genetic disorder. The intern doesn't know much about genetic disorders, but he knows that baby A has hemophilia and baby B has down syndrome. 
    It is your job as a parent to find out as much information about these two disorders.  You are going to be taking care of these children so you need to find out everything you can about them.  You also need to report back to the intern the following information:
-What a genetic disorder is
-What caused your children's disorders
-What the results of the disorders are (the characterics seen in your children)
-Assume that your next two children have hemophilia.  What is the probability of this occurring?
 -Assume that your next two children have down syndrome.  What is the probability of this occurring?

Make sure to complete this mission.  You have an intern depending on your research and a big responsibility ahead of you!

          Baby A                                                Baby B
Here are the websites for you to research about your twins!  Make sure to take notes while you research.  It will help you with your report later on!  Click on the link below for a worksheet to take notes on and write your final report.

Genetic Disorder Worksheet

Genetic Disorders:
1. Read through the short answer to "What are Genetic Disorders?" and then click on "Chromosome Abnormalities" and read through this article. 

http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu/units/disorders/whataregd/

2. This is a great website to help you understand what a genetic disorder really is and how it happens.  Read through the article and play through any of the slide shows that you don't understand the term of.  Make sure you watch the abnormal meiosis slideshow.

http://gslc.genetics.utah.edu/units/disorders/karyotype/karyotypeinfo.cfm


Down Syndrome:
1.  For this website read "About Down Syndrome" and assume that your child is in the 95% of down syndrome children.  Then click on "Dr. Len Leshin's essay."  Within this essay read "The Chromosomes" and "The 21st Chromosome and Down Syndrome" down to where the gene names are listed.  After you have read this click back to the main page and read "Expectations"  Feel free to explore more of this site if you choose to do so.

www.growthcharts.com

2. For this website read through both the "Background" and the "Medical" topics. 

www.nas.com/downsyn/faq.html


Hemophilia:
1. For this website read the article up to "What do Doctors do?"

http://kidshealth.org/teen/diseases_conditions/blood/hemophilia.html

2. Read this article.  The information for your probability problem can be found in this article.  If you wish click on "Frequently Asked Questions" on the left hand side to learn more.

http://www.wfh.org/ShowDoc.asp?Rubrique=28&Document=402


Now you know lots about genetic disorders, hemophilia, and down syndrome!  Now is the time to write your report to the intern.  Make sure to include all of the items in the list from the introduction.  If you want, look at the rubric to find out the expectations of your report.