National Ophthalmic Genotyping and Phenotyping Network Stage 1 - Creation of DNA Repository for Inherited Ophthalmic Diseases

The National Ophthalmic Disease Genotyping and Phenotyping Network (eyeGENE(R)) is a genomic medicine initiative created by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in partnership with clinics and laboratories across the vision research community. The core mission of eyeGENE(R) is to facilitate research into the causes and mechanisms of rare inherited eye diseases and accelerate pathways to treatments. This study collects DNA samples from patients with inherited eye diseases to facilitate research to identify genetic factors responsible for these conditions. Nearly 500 genes that contribute to inherited eye diseases have been identified. As a result, gene-based therapies are being pursued to treat eye genetic diseases that were once considered untreatable.

Physicians in collaborating institutions will recruit patients to participate in the study. Patients will provide a blood sample and undergo a standard eye examination. The blood sample and clinical information will then be sent to the NEI for testing, processing and storing in the biorepository. Patients are given the option to receive results back and/or to be re-contacted in the event of future clinical studies. Information supplied to the testing laboratories includes a unique identification number, the patient gender, and the patient date of birth. The stored samples are available to researchers along with information about the patient's disease, but without patient identifiers.