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news.ParAllele BioScience has formed a joint collaboration agreement with the University of Iowa Cell Biology and Functional Genomics Laboratory, the UI Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and the UI Center for Macular Degeneration, to discover genes responsible for age-related macular degeneration.
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The age-related macular degeneration (AMD) research initiative will be led by Dr Gregory Hageman, professor at the UI Carver College of Medicine.
“The molecular events leading to the development of AMD are poorly understood and no pharmacological treatment has been shown to be effective in preventing, arresting or reversing the loss of vision associated with early AMD,” Hageman explained.
Recent genome-wide linkage analyses have revealed loci on multiple chromosomes with the potential to harbor major AMD-associated genes.
“We choose to collaborate with ParAllele because of their ability to comprehensively analyze those regions for both common and rare mutations that may be AMD-associated,” Hageman added. “Our long range goal is to identify new pathways and therapeutic targets that will hasten the development of pharmaceutical agents capable of delaying the onset and/or progression of AMD.”