Today, researchers of the Wynn Institute for Vision Research announced the discovery of the gene responsible for the inherited macular disease known as North Carolina Macular Dystrophy (NCMD). This discovery was electronically published on the same date in the journal Ophthalmology (LINK). The project was a collaborative effort of 20 scientists, including Kent Small, M.D., a Los Angeles retina specialist and first author of the paper, who has studied NCMD for almost 30 years.

This discovery is important because learning the mechanistic details of human macular development may help scientists in the future rebuild injured retinas using stem cells.

View the full press release here.