SimpleCare statement, "We are empowering patients with knowledge. We are now living in the new era of Genetics and Personalized health care. SimpleCare makes the whole process of having Genetic Testing easy by taking care of every detail."

Our goal is to determine your genetic components, providing you a report that will give you information about conditions and traits for which there are genetic associations supported by multiple, large, peer-reviewed studies. Those associations must also have a substantial influence on a person’s chances of developing the disease or having the trait. Because these associations are widely regarded as reliable, we can use them to develop quantitative estimates and definitive explanations of what they mean for you.

Our Genetic Test cost – US $379.00

Clinical Reports

• Age-Related Macular Degeneration.
• Alcohol Flush Reaction.
• Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency.
• BRCA Cancer Mutations (Selected)
• Bitter Taste Perception.
• Blooms Syndrome.
• Celiac Disease.
• Crohns Disease.
• Cystic Fibrosis (Delta F508 mutation.
• G6PD Deficiency.
• Glycogen Storage Disease Type 1a.
• Hemochromatosis.
• Lactose Intolerance.
• Malaria Resistance (Duffy Antigen).
• Non-ABO Blood Groups.
• Norvirus Resistance.
• Parkinson Disease.
• Prostate Cancer.
• Psoriasis.
• Resistance to HIV/AIDS.
• Rheumatoid Arthritis.
• Sickle Cell Anemia & Malaria Resistance.
• Type 1 Diabetes.
• Type 2 Diabetes.
• Venous Thromboembolism.

Genetic Mapping Techniques

Our goal is to determine your genetic components. To reach this goal, the study team is utilizing several genetic mapping techniques to determine the location of risk genes. This is no small job- we each have about 100,000 genes, and trying to locate the small number of risk genes is like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack! Luckily, scientists have developed laboratory techniques that can help us in our search.

Before reviewing the mapping techniques, it is important to review the most important aspects of genetics.

• Genes hold all of our hereditary information, and provide the “genetic code” that allows our bodies to develop, grow, and function. Genes can play a role in our risk to develop certain disorders. Our environment affects how our genes function.
• Genes are made up of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid.) DNA is the genetic alphabet.
• Our genes are packaged in structures called chromosomes. Genes lined up on chromosomes can be thought of like beads lined up on a string. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes in almost every cell of their body.

Following is a brief description of the two major mapping techniques that we are using, linkage studies and association studies.

Linkage:

Linkage is a method that allows us to determine regions of chromosomes that are likely to contain a risk gene, and rule out areas where there is a low chance of finding a risk gene. Linkage works by using markers, which are well-characterized regions of DNA. Many markers have been identified by the Human Genome Project, and by other studies to map chromosome regions.

In linkage studies, researchers are searching for a marker that is consistently present in those with a condition, and is not present in those without the condition. When we find a marker that is found with the presence of a condition, the marker and the disease-causing gene are said to be linked, and are assumed to be very close together. By looking at large numbers of families, researchers can be very confident that there is a risk gene somewhere close to the marker.

In our studies, we have looked at hundreds of markers to help narrow down the chromosome regions where risk genes may lie. We have strong evidence that there are risk genes for schizophrenia on chromosome 22 (22q11), chromosome 13 (13q32) and chromosome 8 (8p21.) It is possible that there are also risk genes for bipolar disorder on chromosomes 22 and 13. We are continuing to use linkage to locate possible risk genes for both disorders.

Analogy for linkage: Our genetic information is like a large phone book. In that phone book, we are interested in locating a person named John. We do not know John’s last name, or John’s address. Linkage allows us to take that whole phone book, and narrow our search down to a couple of pages of names. We still have not located John, but we are getting closer!

Association:

After using linkage to get an idea where risk genes may be located, we use association to try to locate the risk gene. Association allows us to test candidate genes, or very small genetic regions, to see if they are associated with having the condition. These tests can result in the location of a risk gene.

Our research group is just beginning to use association methods. We hope that association studies will help us pinpoint specific risk genes for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Analogy for association studies: Thanks to linkage, we have narrowed our phone book down to a couple of pages. However, we still have not located John. Association allows us to start calling all of the phone numbers on those pages, until one of the numbers happens to be John!

The ultimate goal of gene mapping is to clone genes, especially disease genes. Once a gene is cloned, we can determine its DNA sequence and study its protein product. For example, cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common lethal inherited disease in the United States. As many as 1 in 2500 Americans of Northern European descent carry a gene with CF. In 1985, the gene was mapped to chromosome 7q31-q32 by linkage analysis. Four years later, it was cloned by Francis Collins and his co-workers. We now know that the disease is caused by the defect of a chloride channel (web link) – the protein product of this disease gene.

Research Reports

This research is generally based on high-quality but limited scientific evidence. Because these results have not yet been demonstrated through large, replicated studies, we do not perform complete quantitative analysis of their effects. We do, however, explain how they may affect your odds of having or developing a trait, condition or disease.

Research Reports also includes scientifically accepted, established research that does not have a dramatic influence on a person’s risk for a disease.