Journal of the Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association
Volume 39 Issue 2, June 2002
20 – 27
Applied Mathematics 30 Student Project: Medical Research: Huntington’s Disease
Mark Fredrick
Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurological disease characterized by movement disorder, dementia and psychiatric disturbances. A single abnormal or mutated gene produces HD. The impact of a gene depends partly on whether it is dominant or recessive. If a gene is dominant, only one of the paired chromosomes is required to produce HD’s effect. HD is autosomal dominant, which means that only one copy of the defective gene, inherited from either parent, is needed to produce the disease.
