A research team led by Mansoor Sarfarazi, PhD, Professor of Human Genetics and Director of the Molecular Ophthalmic Genetics Laboratory at The University of Connecticut Health Center, has discovered a gene that causes a type of adult-onset glaucoma.

“The discovery will improve screening of individuals at high-risk for late-onset primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and help identify those who could develop glaucoma years later,” says Dr. Sarfarazi, who was recently named a member of The Glaucoma Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board. POAG is the most common form of glaucoma, afflicting 70 million people worldwide. The discovery will also help in designing more effective treatments and may advance the likelihood of gene-targeted therapies.

The newly identified gene, WDR36, is the third glaucoma-causing gene discovered by Dr. Sarfarazi’s UConn laboratory. In 2002, Sarfarazi’s lab discovered a gene designated OPTN that causes adult-onset primary open angle glaucoma. And in 1997, the laboratory provided evidence that mutations in the gene CYP1B1 are responsible for congenital glaucoma in children. Dr. Sarfarazi’s laboratory received funding from The Glaucoma Foundation for research relating to the genetics of primary congenital glaucoma.

Among the 11-person research team working on this most recent breakthrough were Dr. Robert Ritch, Medical Director for The Glaucoma Foundation and Chair of its Scientific Advisory Board, and Dr. Jeffrey M. Liebmann, Chair of The Glaucoma Foundation’s Medical Advisory Board.

“This is an important outcome,” says Dr. Ritch, “underscoring our conviction that we are on the right track in our research focus.” Supporting and promoting scientific study as well as encouraging collaborations among different investigators in various fields and laboratories will improve the quality of life for current and future generations,” he said.