Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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myopia

Seeing leaves on trees

Was your mother right when she told you not to read in dim light? Is there a correlation between your love of reading as a child and the fact that you now need glasses for distant objects?

These questions and more are being addressed by researchers at Emory and the Veterans Administration.

In a lab at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center near Emory, researcher Machelle Pardue, PhD, who has an appointment at Emory Eye Center, studies why some eyes seem to change over time, growing larger and longer, thereby making that eye what we call “nearsighted.” This dependence on glasses or contact lenses to see distant objects seems to be a growing phenomenon. Scientists and ophthalmologists call this nearsightedness myopia, and whether it’s environmental or genetic—or a likely combination of both—is fascinating to Pardue and her research colleagues.

Michelle Pardue, PhD

The unique collaborative nature of Pardue’s work draws on the talents of many specialists—clinical, engineering, molecular, and imaging. Her ongoing work and the work of others who serve both at the VA and Emory will no doubt lead to important findings and from that, possible clinical treatments.

For more information about Pardue’s work, read the feature article  “Closing in on myopia—and more” in Emory Eye magazine, summer 2010, page 8.

Posted on August 3, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment