This paper was written by a student NOT doing Bio199 research

Background and Significance Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, is a result of an autoimmune disorder where a loss of insulin production occurs because of pancreatic beta cells destruction. Among all people diagnosed with diabetes, 5-10% of them are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) (3). It is clear that there is a genetic factor for T1D that involves many different genes on many different chromosomes (13). It is also clear that genetics, as well as environmental factors that may trigger and interact with susceptibility genes, are important for developing T1D (9). What is not clear from these studies are specific mutations and modifications of sites on these genes associated with T1D. It is important to us, then, to find out these mutations and modifications within genes that are associated with T1D. We hypothesize that the identification of specific modifications in key gene loci associated T1D will allow for a better understanding of the genetic bases for T1D, therefore, allowing drug companies to pursue a drug target to cure T1D.