National Eye Institute funds search for genetic key to corneal disease

Houston-A new federal grant focusing on painful inherited visual disorders that scar the cornea will allow researchers to narrow the genetic cause of one type of corneal dystrophy and to offer improved diagnosis of this family of diseases.

The $1.1 million, 3-year award by the National Eye Institute (NEI) funds follow-up research on Thiel-Behnke corneal dystrophy by principal investigators Richard W. Yee, MD, clinical professor, and Xinping Zhao, PhD, assistant professor, both of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

Drs. Yee, Zhao, and UT School of Public Health Human Genetics Center colleagues Stephen Daiger, PhD, and Lori Sullivan, PhD, previously narrowed the genetic cause of Thiel-Behnke dystrophy to a short portion of DNA on chromosome 10.

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