Biology students' understanding of cystic fibrosis, gene therapy, and gene screening

The ideas of 290 Year 1 biology undergraduate students about cystic fibrosis, gene therapy, and gene screening have been explored using a multiple-choice-type questionnaire. Students were reasonably informed about the nature of cystic fibrosis disease, although many underestimated its prevalence. Fewer of the students understood the mechanism of inheritance of cystic fibrosis. Only a third of the students appreciated the way in which gene therapy is currently effected; many thought that ‘faulty’ genes could be removed and some even imagined that they could be repaired and replaced. A quarter of the students thought that testing for the cystic fibrosis gene would produce medical side-effects. In the affective domain, about half the group would wish to be tested, but a third were uncertain.