“HudsonAlpha was familiar to us, but I never actually thought that it would be a part of something personal to our family,” said Victor Vega, Tiana’s father. “It’s going to be a hard road, but we are thankful for the support and resources available right here in Huntsville, like HudsonAlpha.”

Two out of every 100 children are born with a intellectual or physical disability, many of which arise from genetic factors. HudsonAlpha believes that every child deserves a true diagnosis, which may lead to different treatments, therapies, and access to support. Through our pediatric projects using genomic sequencing, HudsonAlpha researchers have been able to provide diagnoses to nearly 40 percent of children.

One project is the CSER (Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research) project which has sequenced the genomes of more than 500 families, and diagnosed more than 150 children who had unexplained developmental delays.

One of those children is four-year old Tiana Vega. Through CSER, she was diagnosed with Rett syndrome, a rare, neurodegenerative disorder. Knowing the cause of Tiana’s delays opened the doors for new therapies, and helped the Vegas get connected to other families with Rett syndrome.

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Support HudsonAlpha’s childhood genomics program to end the diagnostic odyssey for families

The HudsonAlpha Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the supporting entity for the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. This gift supports the Pediatric Genomics research, part of the Scientific Advancement Fund. Tax-deductible contributions to the foundation are for the sole purpose of advancing the mission of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology.

Tax identification #27-2320591.