Biomedical researchers make genetic discovery
Wednesday 11th March 2009
Biomedical researchers have made a discovery concerning the genes that determine eye colour.
A team led by Manfred Kayser, of Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, has developed a technique that predicts eye colour based on a small number of genes.
The scientists examined DNA from more than 6,000 people, focusing on eight genes known to be associated with eye clolour.
They found that six sites of genetic variation - known as single nucleotide polymorphisms - predicted blue and brown eye colour with an accuracy of just over 90 per cent.
So far, the test has only been shown to work for Dutch people of European ancestry and so further work would be required before it could be used in other countries.
Forensic geneticist Peter de Knijff, of the Leiden University Medical Centre, said that the results will spur the race to develop more reliable genetic tests for hair and skin colour.
In other industry news, the Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust were recently designated as an Academic Health Science Centre by the Department of Health.
Mediplacements are specialists in recruiting for UK Medical Jobs
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