Discovering the ancient origin of cystic fibrosis, the most common genetic disease in Caucasians
- Written by Philip Farrell, Professor of Pediatrics and Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The airways inside the human lung.Magic mine/Shutterstock.com
Imagine the thrill of discovery when more than 10 years of research on the origin of a common genetic disease, cystic fibrosis (CF), results in tracing it to a group of distinct but mysterious Europeans who lived about 5,000 years ago.
CF is the most common, potentially lethal, inherited...