Want to Know Who is at Risk For Inheriting Genetic Diseases -Download a Free Gene Screen App to Learn More

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Certain recessive genetic diseases are more prevalent in specific ethnic groups and regions of the world.  With the new free interactive Gene Screen App, anyone who wants to learn about genetic diseases and their recessive inheritance patterns can download "Gene Screen" from iTunes to any iPhone or iPad device.  Produced in partnership with the Victor Center for the Prevention of Jewish Genetic Diseases at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and funded by the Atlanta-based Marcus Foundation, led by Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, Gene Screen was developed by DNA Learning Center as a learning tool with a "prevalence calculator" to determine carrier frequencies of specific diseases and ancestry map that allows the user to zoom, scroll or tap to discover which genetic diseases are more common in the regions where their ancestors come from.

In addition to learning about cells, DNA and patterns of recessive inheritance, Gene Screen also allows the user to select a recessive disease from a list to learn about its symptoms, genetic basis, diagnosis, screening and treatment.  The inheritance calculator uses a Punnett square tool to work out patterns of a recessive inheritance trait based on peaked or straight hairlines.  Gene Screen informs on 27 genetic diseases including 19 Jewish genetic diseases.  For Jewish individuals of Central and Eastern European descent, the potential of being a carrier for any of the identified 19 Jewish genetic diseases is particularly great, since it is now known that one in five Ashkenazi Jews is a carrier for at least one of the 19 diseases.

Promoting the need for screening to potential carriers prior to every pregnancy to help ensure healthy babies is the mission of The Victor Center for the Prevention of Jewish Genetic Diseases, an organization founded by Lois Victor, who herself lost two children to a Jewish genetic disease, and is dedicated to helping to prevent Jewish genetic diseases through high-quality and accessible education, genetic counseling, and screening.

In 2002, Ms. Victor established the first center at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, with a second location established in 2005 at Tufts New England Medical Center Floating Hospital for Children in Boston, and a third launched in 2007 in partnership with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. An additional partnership offering genetic counseling, education and screening was created in Atlanta with funding from The Marcus Foundation. To date, over 3,000 individuals have been screened through the Victor Centers.

Individuals of every ethnic group have the potential to be carriers for recessive genetic diseases, with no way of knowing since their own health is not affected. These diseases range from the more familiar Tay-Sachs disease to lesser-known diseases such as Walker-Warburg Syndrome and Nemaline Myopathy. Most have no cure and often only limited treatment, and many result in a severely limited lifespan.

Through the Victor Center and its work around the country, pre-natal screening for the 19 specific diseases has become more readily available and affordable for all at-risk individuals -- and with advances in testing, that list is constantly being expanded.

Additional information on the Victor Center and its services is available at www.victorcenters.org, or by calling 877-401-1093 or e-mailing [email protected]. For further information on Jewish genetic diseases and how they can be prevented, individuals can also visit www.jewishgeneticanswers.org.

Contact:  Cathy Callegari – 212-579-1370 or [email protected]

SOURCE Victor Center for the Prevention of Jewish Genetic Diseases