Join us on May 28th from 3:00-4:00 pm Arizona MST for our monthly informational webinar. This month our topic is Genetic Testing and Gene Therapy. Dr. Grandela will discuss services for genetic testing of ocular diseases as well as recent advancements in genetic therapy treatments for eye disease! Included will be a review of the ID Your IRD program by Invitae and Luxturna by Spark Therapeutics. IDyourIRD is a free program that allows individuals with sight loss to undergo genetic testing to identify (ID) if they have an inherited retinal disease (IRD).
A simple cheek swab is performed in office and then sent into the lab for sequencing. Once the genes are sequenced, a report is sent back to the doctors at ViewFinder stating if any genes have been identified as the culprit. If a gene is responsible for the patient’s sight loss, additional tests can be ordered for family members to see if they have are affected by the same gene.
Identifying the specific gene causing sight loss can be important for managing the disease. There are several clinical trials with various institutions currently available for people with an IRD. Many of these clinical trials are exploring the use of gene therapy in curing or halting disease progression.
This Webinar will be broadcast on our Facebook page and later uploaded to our Youtube channel:
To learn more about Rare Diseases go to: https://rarediseases.org