Congenital birth defects result from an abnormal development of an embryo and have
detrimental effects on children's health. Specifically, congenital heart malformations are a
leading cause of death among pediatric patients and often require surgical interventions
within the first year of life. Increased efforts to navigate the human genome provide an
opportunity to discover multiple candidate genes in patients suffering from birth defects.
These efforts, however, fail to provide an explanation regarding the mechanisms of disease …