Biology

Technology has revolutionized everything in the world from entertainment to work and personalizing various aspects of like to make things easier and meet overall needs. Medicine is also a part of increasing technology as scientist and doctors work around the clock to find cures for diseases with the use of genetic testing. Genetic testing is the action of taking cells from saliva, blood, skin, or hair to determine the body’s genetic makeup. With the use of genetic testing the following will discuss how genetic technology may lead to personalized medicine along with the benefits and drawbacks of personalized medicine.

It is understood that genetic testing involves taking cells from the body to determine ones genetic makeup. Defined by Webster’s dictionary, medicine is a substance or preparation used in treating disease or the science and art of dealing with maintenance of health and prevention alleviation or cure of disease. When people think of medicine the items that come to mind include that of Advil, Tylenol, Benadryl and other various over the counter drugs used in the treatment of pain, fever, allergies, the common cold, etc. Personalized medicine is the process at which medicine is tailored to a patient’s genetic code, and about making the treatments as individualized as the disease. Personalized medicine allows predications to be made about a person’s possibility of developing a disease, the course of a disease, and response to treatment.

In the past blood tests were done prior to a couple’s marriage to determine genetic diseases such as sickle cell, cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease and cancer. Over time as new diseases are discovered, scientist has developed new ways to cure issues in the future. One such issue is that of breast cancer and determining its lineage. With use of genetic testing is the knowledge that there is a possibility of a disease. Having the information allows on the opportunity to make preventative choices at an...