UD's Salil Lachke identifies new mechanism essential for eye lens development
May 17, 2018
Cataracts
Genetics
Lens
Basic Research
Grantee
Cataract disease, commonly found in the elderly, is a leading cause of blindness in the world.
Until now, scientists did not understand much about how these cells can simultaneously prune away obstructions without damaging proper development of the eye lens to maintain the lens' clarity.
But now, University of Delaware biologist Salil Lachke and his collaborators show the protein (Celf1) is essential to this process and reveal the mechanism used in three different vertebrates - mice, frogs and zebrafish.