Health Symposiums: Tourette’s Syndrome

Previously on Team AP Bio… we were put into groups to learn about genetic health symposiums and my group had the topic of Tourette’s Syndrome. There is a certain stigma on Tourette’s Syndrome that the syndrome is just people randomly swearing. However, that is only one result of many possible physical symptoms of Tourette’s. There are many possible genes that could be the cause of Tourette’s, but the most well known gene is SLITRK1 found on chromosome 13. A mutation in the gene SLITRK1 is del1264C where a single base pair is deleted. The deletion is leads to a shorter version of the SLITRK1 protein. Patients with Tourette’s can usually be recognized by their tics. Tics are repetitive, sudden, uncontrolled movements and sounds that occur when the nervous system overreacts and can be categorized into motor tics and vocal tics, both with subcategories of simple and complex tics. Motor tics can appear as twitches, winking, and sudden movements and vocal tics can consist of humming, clicking, and blurting out sudden words and phrases.

I was excited to study and research about Tourette’s Syndrome because a few of the comedians that I admire have Tourette’s and educate and advocate for people with Tourette’s. When researching, it was difficult for my group to research the specific genes that could cause Tourette’s because there is little known about the genes. So, we did that best that we could with the information we could find on an uncommon gene that causes Tourette’s. Coming up with ideas was not that difficult as everyone in our group was very creative. So, when we realized we had limited time to do an idea of an in-person lesson, we decided to do the lesson on Zoom. Another part of our project was to interview a person of close relation to a patient with the health symposium, a person who works with patients, or a patient of the symposium. Although we reached out to a patient and two doctors that worked with and did research on Tourette’s, we did not get a response back for a while; finding someone to interview was very difficult with conflicting school and work schedules. Fortunately, a patient with Tourette’s responded in time to complete the project. Overall, the project was very educational and it was enjoyable to work with my teammates. Although we had a few obstacles, we were able to complete the project satisfied with our work.