Posted by Lieutenant Commander Alexis Kane (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in The Truth is in the Blood

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Dr. Solomon Kane (Research & Development) in The Truth is in the Blood

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Alexis Kane (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in The Truth is in the Blood
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
A request for a medical consultation was waiting on Alexis’ console when she entered her office that morning. From a Lt Cmdr Fayth from Oed…Alexis opened the request. It was the genetic profile for Hannah’s fetus. Alexis had several patients to see that morning and had to put off looking at the profile until lunch, which she worked straight through. Since the profile had already been compiled before it was sent to her, Alexis was able to work in her office on the analysis rather than the lab. It was fascinating the genetic meshing that was happening. The details didn’t leave her even as she was called away for another consultation and then an influx of engineering officers that were injured replacing a plasma injector.

She returned to her office and the genetic profile. She worked an hour past the end of her shift, and would have continued if GALEN hadn’t reminded her that she had to pick Frigga up from the PT gym. As they walked the corridor back to their quarters, she read from the PaDD, swiping between screens. Entering their quarters, Alexis didn’t even look up as she wandered to the replicator and set a bowl down for Frigga and then sat at the desk, sitting cross-legged in the chair and turned the console on. “Computer bring up a list of all cured diseases and genetic anomalies from the 20th and 21st centuries.”

Alexis

Kane, lounging on the couch watching some old vid called Airwolf, didn’t look up; he just said “And hey to you to, wife.” and shook his head and grinned. He knew when Alexis got in it, she was almost oblivious to anything around her. He looed at Frigga and patted the couch next to him, and she willingly came before eating her dinner. She knew the Steak Keeper wouldn’t keep her long.

Kane

=/\=There are over 500,000 diseases cured across the federation from that time period. Please narrow your search parameters.=/\=

Alexis didn’t glance up at all, but she grinned and waved her hand at him. “Human genetic diseases and disorders known during Earth’s 20th and 21st century. List them by type.”

=/\=Chromosomal disorders: Down syndrome (Trisomy 21), FragileX syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome, Triple-X syndrome, Turner syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Trisomy 13.

Multifactorial disorders: Late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, Arthritis, Autism spectrum disorder, Cancer (in most cases) Coronary artery disease, Diabetes, Migraine headaches, Spina bifida, and Isolated congenital heart defects.

Monogenic disorders:Cystic fibrosis, Deafness that’s present at birth (congenital), Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Familial hypercholesterolemia, Hemochromatosis (iron overload), Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), Sickle cell disease, and Tay-Sachs disease.

Rare genetic disorders include: AA amyloidosis, Adrenoleukodystrophy, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Mitochondrial diseases, and Usher syndrome.=/\=

Alexis tapped the stylus on her leg, “Narrow previous search index to those that have since been cured within the human genetic coding sequences.”

=/\=Trisomy 21, Fragile X Syndrome, Turner syndrome, Autism spectrum disorder, Isolated congenital heart defects, Cystic fibrosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Hemochromatosis, Sickle cell disease, tay-Sachs disease, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, User Syndrome=/\=

“Computer display the genetic sequences and chromosomal location for each of those on the display.” There was a soft trill as Alexis leaned in, chin propped in her hand, eyes flicking back and forth from the display to her PaDD.

Alexis

Kane paused the vid and said “What the hell are you working on? Chromosomal mapping and editing got rid of inherited genetic abnormalities like a hundred and fifty years ago. What are you looking for?”

Kane

Alexis’ own form of shorthand was being added in almost illegible scribble to the PaDD as she read. “It’s fascinating.” And she scribbled some more and then paused to look up at him. “It’s the genetic profile for Hannah’s fetus. There was genetic coding that seemed strange. Then I remembered I had read about it when researching historical medical genetic progress for my dissertation. Look, I’ve already found markers for ASD and CF.”

Alexis

Kane shooed Frigga off the couch to eat and then stood up and walked over to stand behind Alexis and his eyes peered at the screen for a long time and then narrowed. “It’s not unexpected considering Daniel’s origin… but look at this.” and he pointed to a series of nonsequential markers buried under the markers she was looking at. “I’m not well versed in this… but that doesn’t look right, does it?”

Kane

“The fetus is going to need genetic therapy. Can you imagine the havoc the reintroduction of these diseases into the genetic pool would cause?” Alexis mused out loud as she looked at the markers Solomon was pointing at. “They’re incomplete sequences. That can happen sometimes when the computer analyzes a sample and builds the sequence. Computer error or the sample wasn’t complete. I will have them rescan the sample and send the profile again.” Her brow furrowed and she ‘humphed’ and then swiped the profile onto the large screen, in place of his movie and stood up to look at the larger image. “That’s…odd.” She scrolled through the sequence rapidly, stopping, marking, and then scrolling again. She looked up at the screen pointing out several locations, “There are 15 incomplete sequences in this profile. Either the doctor who took the sample is totally incompetent or their computer needs replac…I need to use the holo-imagers in the R&D lab.” She turned abruptly and walked out the door, fully expecting him to follow.

Alexis

Kane grabbed a shirt and threw it on as they moved into the passageway. “Waht did you see, Lex?” he askedas they stepped into the turbo lift and made their way to his secure lab. They walked through the main Lab and into the back where Kane had erected a kind of ‘office’ with a series of opaque walls and fields. He pulled the feed from their quarters and put it through the holo projectors, and soon they were standing in the DNA of Hannah’s baby.

Kane

Alexis shook her head. She wouldn’t say until she could get a better look at it. She was certain she was correct, what it meant she didn’t know yet. She was used to her mind picking up small details and leaping to solid conclusions before the concrete details were set out and explained. She would go through the process though to be certain.

She stood in the middle of the double helix and turned slowly scanning the image. Her fingers tapped on the PaDD she was holding and the strands began to ‘unzip’. “Each code has a dominant and recessive gene, one from the mother and one from the father. There are chemical markers that indicate all the genes that come from one parent or the other.” With a swipe of her hand the two strands separated. “Two separate genetic contributions. All the incomplete sequences are from this one.” Alexis pointed to the right hand side. “Computer access file Bonner genetic study 3 2387 and display next to current sample.”

A second complete double helix appeared, “This is Hannah’s DNA profile. I’ll have the computer run the analysis but I’m certain that the damaged sample is all from the father. Computer run genetic match analysis of the new sample with the two seperate fetus samples.”

Alexis

Kane looked at the display and scowled. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. It was like that time- “TIME!” he yelled out suddenly. “Lex, the dad was frozen for what… centuries, right? Even in stasis there are micro fluctuations in the power and environment. No stasis pod- especially from back then- could compensate for that. Thats why the longer you are in stasis, the harder it is to bring you out. Cellular degradation doesn’t stop… it is just slowed to a speed that is almost zero… but not zero.” He looked at the display. “Is that what we are seeing here? His junk was just so far past the Sell By date it didn’t work?”

Kane

Alexis went still and looked up at the right hand half of the DNA sample, even as the computer merged Hannah’s dna with the other half of the sample, confirming her genetic contribution. Slowly Alexis nodded as the other possibilities ran through her head and were discarded. “It’s a high probability. I would prefer to check the physical sample myself and even a fresh genetic contribution, but those aren’t options. I’ll have to settle for a fresh fetal sample just to confirm.” Alexis zoomed in on the damaged sample and slowly scrolled through. The damage was extensive, almost 30%. “Some of this would be mitigated by Hannah’s dominant genes, but even if one gene expresses more strongly you need both…this…Solomon this can’t be fixed.” If Alexis could get ahold of Daniel she could try to splice the genes into place, but it had never been done at this point. Hannah was almost half way through her pregnancy. If they missed even one cell, the remaining damaged one would continue to replicate and spread the damage. And it crossed the line into eugenics. “If this isn’t a file glitch,” and Alexis’ tone made it clear she didn’t believe that at all, “the pregnancy isn’t viable. There is no way the baby will fully form or live.”

Alexis

Kane began dissecting the file itself, down past the kernel level and beyond. After ten minutes, he looked at Alexis. He shook his head. “The file is 100% solid. Not a single write error or transmission discrepancy.” He took a deep breath and then folded his arms on his chest. “So? What do you want to do, Lex? I mean… she… they… need to know. And the earlier they know, the more time they have to figure out what to do.”

Kane