Finding out if a future child, or an existing child, is vulnerable to developing a disease based on the inheritance of DNA can be a tough reality to face. Usually in these cases, it is helpful to gain knowledge beforehand to properly plan for the road ahead. By taking a carrier test, you and your partner can become emotionally prepared, and can plan to take steps to become financially prepared for having a child who may acquire a condition derived from your DNA.

Our genetics testing lab is located at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Your testing kit, which includes free, pre-paid shipping, will be shipped to our lab for processing upon performing the mouth swab test. This process can take as little as 2 weeks to run your sample and have your results distributed to yourself and your provider by mail. Once you have your results, you and your doctor can determine whether extra steps of preparation are necessary for birthing and raising a child. In addition, genetic counseling is available as an extra resource to you if help is needed for interpretation of your results.

A carrier is a person who has only one copy of a mutated gene and the other the other gene copy is functioning properly. Once a person is discovered to be a carrier of a gene mutation, there is a chance of passing the mutation onto their children. If both parents are carriers of a matching gene mutation, they may produce a child with a harmful, life-long disease. Parents who are carriers of one or more mutated genes may have inherited them from previous generations in their bloodline and may or may not display symptoms associated with a disease.

If you are planning on starting a family, or already have children, genetic carrier screening can help you understand the risks that your children may face when inheriting your genes. Many people have lived their whole lives without ever realizing that they are carriers. Of these people, the majority of them will have children at some point during their life. As these children get older, they will most likely plan on becoming parents of their own children one day as well. At any time, a child of parents who are carriers can develop a disease as a result of the DNA that they have inherited, and can even pass these harmful gene mutations down to their children as well. Therefore, carrier testing is a helpful tool for both parents and their children to gain awareness of whether or not their children are susceptible to acquiring a disease.