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Children's Medical Research Institute Receives Grant to Research Genetic Condition

Posted on: Wednesday, 21 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

John J. Mulvihill, Children's Medical Research Institute's Kimberly V. Talley Chair in medical genetics, has received a four- year award to research the genetic condition known as neurofibromatosis.

The award of $760,000 is from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs of the Department of Defense.

Neurofibromatosis 1 is characterized by the presence of brown spots on the skin, nodules in the eyes, freckling under the arms, and slow growing benign tumors called neurofibromas that can arise anywhere on the body.

Individuals who have this genetic condition have been well studied in the early stages of life, due to the fact that many patients die earlier than expected, by as much as 15 years.

But, to best guide care for children and young adults, we need information on the other end of life, said Mulvihill. Since the University of Oklahoma is only one of four medical centers in the nation with a department of geriatrics, we developed a team here, together with researchers at the Centers for Disease Control, NIH, University of British Columbia and University of Copenhagen, to get a picture of what the issues are in three countries of people with neurofibromatosis over age 50 years.

Other Oklahoma clinical scientists participating in the research program are Bruce Carnes, Yuri Nakasato, Thomas Teasdale and W. Blaine Bendure, from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

Source: Journal Record - Oklahoma City

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