worldhealth.net <\/p>\n
SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- In 1990 the Human Genome Project started. <\/p>\n
It was a massive scientific undertaking that aimed to identify and map out the body's complete set of DNA. <\/p>\n
This research has paved the way for new genetic discoveries, and one of those has allowed scientists to study how to fix bad chromosomes. <\/p>\n
Case Western Reserve University scientist, Anthony Wynshaw-Boris, is studying how to repair damaged chromosomes. <\/p>\n
Our bodies contain 23 pairs of chromosomes, 46 in total, but if chromosomes are damaged, they can cause birth defects, disabilities, growth problems and even death. <\/p>\n
Wynshaw-Boris is taking skin cells and reprogramming them to work like embryonic stem cells, which can grow into different cell types. <\/p>\n
\"We are taking an adults, or a child's, skin cells, said Wynshaw-Boris. We are not causing any loss of an embryo, and you're taking those skin cells to make a stem cell.\" <\/p>\n
Scientists studied patients with a specific defective chromosome that was shaped like a ring. They took the patients' skin cells and reprogrammed them into embryonic-like cells in the lab. <\/p>\n
They found this process caused the damaged \"ring\" chromosomes to be replaced by normal chromosomes. <\/p>\n
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The rest is here: <\/p>\n
New DNA discovery could lead to chromosome therapies in the future<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" worldhealth.net SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- In 1990 the Human Genome Project started. It was a massive scientific undertaking that aimed to identify and map out the body's complete set of DNA. Continue reading