In the field of genetic counseling and testing, the stories of patients and the healthcare professionals who guide them through their journeys are as compelling as they are educational. Recently, I had the privilege of working with Alyssa Valentine, MS, CGC, a senior genetic counselor at Cook County Health in Chicago, Illinois. In her role in a…
Our understanding of genes and diseases is constantly evolving. At Ambry Genetics, we develop and continuously refine our testing services based on the ever-expanding body of scientific evidence. The process of assessing the relationship between a gene and a disease is called gene-disease validity (GDV) scoring and is fundamental to genetic testing.…
Genetic testing has emerged as a powerful tool in personalized medicine, offering insights into individual health risks, disease predispositions, and treatment options. However, its effectiveness relies on the accuracy of the results. We know that individuals from non-White populations receive less informative genetic testing results compared to…
The ability of exome sequencing (ES) to detect variants across the genetic code makes it a powerful diagnostic tool, reducing the number of tests and time to diagnose patients with rare disorders. However, with this broad detection range comes the challenge of identifying which of hundreds or thousands of rare variants may be clinically meaningful…
Introduction Clinical genetic testing is a powerful diagnostic tool for neurological disorders. The utility of genetic testing can be diminished by the large number of variants of uncertain significance (VUS). Variant classification for neurological disorders has additional challenges because clinical evidence is often limited. The biggest limitation…
One in every eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime.1 Considering there are 167.5 million women currently living in the United States,2 on a population level, that is a large number of women who will develop breast cancer. The vast majority of breast cancer cases are due to a combination of factors including, but not limited to:…
Rare diseases are not as rare as one might think—there are more than 6,000 identified rare diseases affecting over 300 million people worldwide. Over 70% of rare diseases have a genetic cause, and as a leading commercial laboratory, we understand the important role we play in the rare disease community. Every day, we provide genetic test results…
February 29th, the rarest day in the calendar, serves as a beacon of hope and solidarity for those affected by the rarest of diseases. Rare Disease Day is dedicated to raising awareness about rare diseases and the millions of individuals around the world affected by them. It is also a time to shine a light on the incredible work being done by…
Every individual's genetic makeup is unique, containing the blueprint for their health, including susceptibility to diseases and potential response to treatments. But understanding your genes is like deciphering a complex code. DNA varies slightly from person to person, and interpreting the medical significance of those differences, or variants,…
Kaitlin Stokes is a genetic counselor at Houston Methodist West in Houston, TX. She sees patients with personal or family histories of cancer that may be due to an underlying hereditary cause. We recently connected with Kaitlin about her role, and she shared, “I love what I do because I feel like I’m helping people. I’m giving them control…