A Trinity College research team is to contact up to 60,000 Irish people who suffer from a form of progressive blindness in the search for a cure for the condition.
The project relates to a disorder called Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD), which results in sight loss due to a gradual, irreversible deterioration of the retina. The project stems from US research which shows that ARMD is gene-related.
The university has a strong track record in this type of research. Scientists in the ocular genetics unit have already discovered two of the most important genes responsible for retinitis pigmentosa (RP), the most common form of genetic retinal degeneration, and they have been developing methods of correcting genetic defects of the retina for three years.
"If we can get the co-operation of even 1,000 of these patients we could quickly establish a much clearer picture and then apply the gene replacement technologies which we have been developing," Prof Peter Humphreys said.
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