Glaucoma is an important cause of vision disability that affects millions of Americans and is caused at least in part by heredity and the action of genes. The Glaucoma Genetics Lab is dedicated to identifying these genes and investigating their role in the development of disease with the ultimate goal of preventing vision loss by improving diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma.

The Glaucoma Genetics Lab has five major approaches to study the genetics of glaucoma.

1) Family-based research (studies of families with many members that have glaucoma).

2) Population-based research (studies of the groups of unrelated glaucoma patients).

3) Quantitative traits of glaucoma research (studies of the heredity of specific measurements of the eye - like eye pressure).

4) Genetic testing for glaucoma.

5) Pharmacogenomics (studies of the heredity of responsiveness to glaucoma drugs).