Alzheimer's Disease

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Meli1795
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:30 pm
Occupation: Student
Project Question: Can a person be genetically tested for Alzheimer's disease?
Project Due Date: January 18
Project Status: I am just starting

Alzheimer's Disease

Post by Meli1795 »

Hello!
My classroom and I have been assigned to do a project for our local science fair and I am interested in Alzheimer's Disease.
I would like to know if Alzheimer's Disease can be detected before someone even gets it? Can it be gentically tested? Can a sort of home kit be created to detect it?
I would really appreciateany suggestions!
Thank you for taking your time and reading my post.
HeatherL
Former Expert
Posts: 895
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2005 3:59 pm
Occupation: Professor
Project Question: How do different animals adapt to their environment?
Project Due Date: N/A
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Alzheimer's Disease

Post by HeatherL »

Hi Meli1795,

It's great to hear that you are pursuing a topic in which you are interested! I don't know the details about detecting Alzheimer's Disease, but I do know that there is a genetic component to it (meaning that people are more likely to get it if their relatives did). They have also identified certain genes that are associated with the disease, such as the APOE epsilon4 allele. I think you may need to do some research to find out the answers to your questions.

Here are some resources to get you started:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001767/
http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_w ... eimers.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer%27s_disease (Note that I would use this for the references listed at the bottom of the article.)
http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publi ... fact-sheet

You will be able to find much more information when you do your own search!

I also found a web site with some project ideas related to Alzheimer's:
http://www.juliantrubin.com/fairproject ... sease.html

I hope this helps. Please post again if you have more questions.

Heather
Meli1795
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:30 pm
Occupation: Student
Project Question: Can a person be genetically tested for Alzheimer's disease?
Project Due Date: January 18
Project Status: I am just starting

Re: Alzheimer's Disease

Post by Meli1795 »

Thank you very much Heather! I really appreciate your help
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