Guthrie Card

While there is a perception that wide-spread genetic testing raises difficult ethical issues, the fact is that universal genetic testing has been legally mandated since about 1970.  The device for that screening is the Guthrie card that holds a neonates blood sample on a paper filter.  The testing and archiving of the cards typically is done in a state laboratory.  Recently, researchers at the Van Andel Research Institute (Grand Rapids, MI) showed it was possible to detect some 9,000 genes in samples that had been archived for three years.  Most interestingly, this report says messenger RNA is well preserved in archived filter paper blood spots.  MORE

Image Credit: March of Dime and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation