MMI for the record

Dr. Gibson’s research receives LEND award
Logan Gibson, Ph.D., received the top award last month at the MMI Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program’s annual poster presentation. Dr. Gibson’s poster, with collaborators William Higgins, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Preas, was titled “Evaluation of Real-time Feedback to Train Caregivers to Conduct Discrete-trial Instruction.” Twenty-two posters were shown at the event, with nine LEND presenters.

Human Genetics Lab stars at Nebraska Science Festival

The Munroe-Meyer Institute Human Genetics Lab’s display booth is mobbed during the Nebraska Science Festival.

For the third year, MMI’s Human Genetics Laboratory provided an interactive exhibit at the Nebraska Science Festival, held at Omaha’s Durham Museum. Personnel from the lab taught students and the public about genetics, using gummy worm “chromosomes” to create a karyotype (a systematic arrangement of chromosomes in descending order of size). Laboratory staff related this activity to the real-life karyotyping performed in the laboratory to diagnose various cancers and other genetic disorders.

“An opportunity to promote science to the community is always exciting,” said lab director Jennifer Sanmann, Ph.D. “Our group not only enjoyed themselves, they represented our lab with a fun and engaging activity and — who knows? — maybe inspired a future geneticist or two.”

Human Genetics Lab updates test menu
The Human Genetics Laboratory test menu was significantly updated in April with the addition of Whole Exome Sequencing and the expansion of six panel tests — connective tissue disorders, cutis laxa, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, craniosynostosis, RASopathy Disorders | Noonan Syndrome, and osteogenesis imperfecta — to include additional genes of clinical interest.