The Teesside Link to Solving GIANT Genetic Problem; Experts Hope Research Will Help Hundreds like Victorian Harry

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Byline: MIKE MORGAN

SCIENTISTS are working on a medical breakthrough for the genetic condition suffered by a famous Teessider known as the 'Yorkshire Giant'.

A team of experts, including some from the London School of Medicine and Dentistry and University College London, has led ground-breaking research in a bid to help modern sufferers of gigantism.

Scientists believe a "race of giants" sprang from a mutant gene that first emerged around 1,500 years ago and caused uncontrolled body growth. And they have used teeth from the skeleton of an 18th century man known as the 'Irish Giant' -Charles Byrne -to analyse DNA.

It allowed experts to calculate …