• Question: what is down syndrem ????

    Asked by gracebasham to Katie, Callum, Gina, Michelle, Sam on 15 Nov 2012. This question was also asked by arsenal36.
    • Photo: Katie Howe

      Katie Howe answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      Hi grace.

      Down’s syndrome happens when the baby ends up with an extra copy of a chromosome. Each chromosome contains DNA which is the instructions for making your body. When there is an extra copy of a chromosome the body gets confused about which set of instructions to follow and this leads to a lot of problems for people with Down’s syndrome. For example they have a lot of learning difficulties and also growth problems. They are also much more likely to develop problems with their sight and hearing.

      Downs syndrome is a lot more common in babies born from older mothers. This is because in older women their eggs are also very old and often get a bit dodgy. This is important because nowadays a lot of women choose to have careers and put off having children until they are much older.

      In my research I am trying to understand how a womens eggs get dodgy as she get older and whether we can do anything to make their eggs healthy again so they can have healthy children.

      I hope this helps explain it a bit better… Thanks for your question!

    • Photo: Michelle Linterman

      Michelle Linterman answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      Hi, great question.

      Downs syndrome is a genetic disorder where a person has an extra copy (3 not two) of chromosome 21. Chromosomes are packages of DNA, that come in pairs, and we name them by size. So, chromosome 1 is the largest and chromosome 22 is the smallest. So in Downs syndrome there is an extra copy of the second smallest chromosome.

      It is really interesting to learn that people with downs syndrome are less likely to get some types of cancer, which makes scientists think that the extra copy of chromosome 21 can be protective against these cancers.

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