For my final project I learned a lot about general genetic diseases and applied my knowledge acquired over the term to figure out how genes can impact a person. I was very aware of Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria before I wrote about it for my final project, however I was not aware it was a dominant gene that caused the disease. This simply blows my mind, after all it goes against the basic knowledge of genetics. This dominant allele can show up in families that have absolutely no history of it, and there is no way for the gene to be passed on because those affected die at a very young age. Because this disease is so rare we don’t know exactly how this occurs. Cystic Fibrosis is also a major disease with a short life expectancy (some have actually lived into the 50s). I have also heard of it but I never actually knew what it was, so writing about it for my final project has taught me a lot.