Page 12 - Behind The Smile - Winter 2016

LCPC in World-Class Genetics Research
A few busy days in August and again in October saw lots of new faces and activities here at
cleft lip/palate, including the af- fected family member(s) and also any una ected siblings, children,
and parents. We are enormously grateful to the many
LCPC family mem- bers who have vol- unteered to partic- ipate in the project
thus far. Some
of the interesting testing procedures
that families have
to undergo include: a dental examination with dental
impressions, an ultrasound of the upper lip, photographs of the lip and face, a saliva sample, a speech recording, a smell test, and a complete medical and dental family history. Here’s what some of our LCPC
study participants have to
say about their experience
with the project:
“Our family is blessed with the rare occur- rence of two cleft boys. Apparently we have something speci c
in our genes and we were hoping that we would add something unique to the study.
The study was explained very thoroughly before- hand so the testing was pretty much what we ex- pected. Our family really enjoyed being a part of this study. My 4-year-old daughter asked if she could come back again tomorrow for another ap- pointment. The sta was so friendly and that made the experience very enjoyable.”
– Stacey, mother of Noah, 9 yr., Rebekah, 7 yr., Corin, 4 yr., and Isaac, 3 months.
...continued on page 13
the Clinic. The busy days launched the start of LCPC’s participation as a testing site for researchers from the University of Pittsburgh investigating ge- netic patterns and other factors that may indicate a risk for the occurrence of clefts in families with cleft lip/palate. This NIH sponsored project is being conducted by the University of Pittsburgh Center for Craniofa- cial & Dental Genetics and has testing sites around the world. The Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic is proud to be one of these sites for this important research that hopes to identify the inherited genes that may play a role in the development of oral-facial clefts. Researchers are collecting data from families with a history of
Page 12 __________________________ Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic ••• Behind the Smile eMagazine ••• Winter 2016