/oss/taxonomy/term/3923/all en /oss/article/medical/controversial-gene-therapy-duchenne-muscular-dystrophy <p>As medicine uses more and more complex tools to treat illness, I worry that these newer interventions will be seen as impenetrable black boxes. A pill is easy to understand, but gene therapy?</p> <p>There is a simple story to tell about gene therapy. Your body has a defective gene. Doctors will give you the correct version of the gene and the disease will go away. It’s like being unhappy with your wall colour and simply painting it over with a fresh coat of paint. Suddenly it’s new and functional.</p> Fri, 23 Jun 2023 18:26:17 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9555 at /oss /oss/article/health-general-science/they-say-its-genetic-my-parents-dont-have-it <p>When we’re told a condition we have is “genetic”, it’s tempting to think it means our parents had it, and their parents before them, all the way up to some mysterious Eve-bites-the-apple event. But if you’re told you have muscular dystrophy and your parents don’t have it, what’s going on? A trip to IKEA may help answer that.</p> Tue, 11 Jun 2019 15:18:12 +0000 Jonathan Jarry, MSc 7795 at /oss