Michelle Schraudner
Life Editor
Imagine a test that could tell you if you are a carrier of disease, likely to have certain cancers or certain to develop a degenerative disorder. Would you take it?
In Idaho State University Biology Professor Michael Thomas’s senior seminar class, 15 students took that test. In coming weeks, they will learn more about their genes than most people learn in a lifetime.
“Once you open Pandora’s Box, there’s no way to go back,” said Kayla Brawley, a Biochemistry major in the class.
Using the genetic testing services of 23andMe, Thomas and his class sent in samples of their saliva to be tested. Soon they will learn where their ancestors are from, and how they got the physical traits they have.
“I expected half the class probably wouldn’t want to do it,” said Thomas. “I thought that half of them would say, ‘No way, I’m not going to do that.’ But every one of them wanted to do it.”
This is the second semester Thomas has used “Mutants” as a textbook for his class but the first that he has incorporated genetic testing into the curriculum. He said his students last semester did not fully grasp that everyone is a mutant.
“No, no. You are mutants,” Thomas said he told his class. “We’re all mutants. We all have mutations.”
According to the book, every person has around 100 mutations that his or her parents did not have, meaning literally everyone is a mutant. Because “Mutants” describes the genetic changes causing conjoined twins, dwarfism and limb deformities, Thomas jokingly refers to it as, “the book you don’t want to read when you’re pregnant.”
Unlike the physically noticeable effects that some mutations cause, some can be mutations unnoticed but harmful. They can increase the likelihood that a woman develops breast cancer, or that a person may have celiac disease or any number of other diseases.
Because Thomas’s students are all seniors, they’ve taken courses like Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Physiology and more. This course aims to tie all of those fields into one comprehensive study of the beginning to end process of how a mutation is formed and how it eventually may affect someone.
“It really pulls all of that together,” said Thomas. “It’s a really good teaching moment for the students.”
Due to the sensitive nature of the testing, Thomas made the testing optional for his students. If a student wanted to opt out, Thomas would give him or her a made-up set of results to examine. However, no one chose that option.
Everyone wanted in.
“If there is something wrong with my DNA, I would rather know about it sooner rather than later,” said class member Jared Everson, a 26-year-old senior majoring in Botany. “I don’t think I have any crazy DNA but I suppose this will tell me.”
Thomas said he is prepared to send students to the Counseling Center on campus should any of them receive drastic or unexpected test results. Coping with a possible, or even certain, future diagnosis of a degenerative disorder is not something most college students expect.
Everson doubts he’ll learn anything drastic about his genes but would be open to visiting the Counseling Center if he learned something upsetting.
That Thomas participated in the genetic testing alongside his students was reassuring for some. Brawley said that might be why the entire class opted to do it.
“It’s a learning experience,” she said. “The whole class did it and no one said no to the test. We’re kind of in it together, learning together.”
Although the test results could show an increased risk of getting cancer or disease, Thomas’s approach to those risks is optimistic.
“Your genes are not your destiny,” he said.
If a college student learned he might have a high risk of getting colon cancer, he could choose to stop eating red meat, get earlier screening exams and use their information intelligently to take preventative measures, Thomas explained.
“They won’t learn that they have a death sentence,” he said.
Not all the test results are serious, however. Brawley, a redhead, is particularly interested to see if 23andMe’s testing service can accurately identify her hair color.
“They don’t know what we look like, so I’m interested to see if they get our hair color and our eye color right, especially my hair color,” she said.
Cheyanne Curry-Hendrix, a Zoology major in the class, is excited to learn about her ancestry. She and her mother have both looked into their backgrounds and family trees but the chance to see definitive answers will be another exciting step in their research.
Using the testing kit was a singularly unusual experience. Brawley and Thomas said it took them roughly five minutes to produce enough saliva to fill the tube. To motivate herself to fill the tube quickly, Brawley microwaved bacon as a reward for completing the test kit.
In addition to their personal concerns or excitement about the testing, students in Thomas’s class appreciate the technological advancements that make this learning experience possible for them.
Everson said his field of botany already uses gene sequencing to do genetic modification to increase yield, pest resistance and drought resistance.
“This is done daily in laboratories all over the U.S. for plants,” he said. “In botany, it’s already used all the time.”
Genetic testing also provides information about animals’ gene sequences, said Curry-Hendrix. Her friend tested her Chihuahua, which was revealed to be part Border Collie and part Labrador Retriever.
Thomas’s class will get their testing results back within the next two weeks, which will begin a month-long discussion series for the seminar students.
