If you or your child are afflicted by a retinal degeneration keep abreast of current approaches and cutting edge research by following this newsletter and the others devoted to this topic. Be examined in a retinal center yearly. Try to have your blood sampled for DNA testing. This will become more common in the future. Support research by contributions if you can.
Research is the only way.
Everyone doing research in this area needs and deserves more support. We have developed a technique for detecting rejection. We plan to use our improved techniques to transplant RPE into the subretinal space of selected human subjects with advanced macular degeneration in 1999. Rando Allilkmets, the scientist who discovered the gene responsible for Stargardt s type I, will be joining our Eye Institute next month. This will increase our ability to determine gene defects in families with macular degenerations and develop gene therapy.