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The kinetics of O2, CO, and NO binding to mammalian hemoglobins (Hbs) have been studied for 75 yr, starting with the original rapid mixing experiments of Hartridge and Roughton (1). Over the last 20 yr, these measurements have been extended to time scales ranging from hours to picoseconds. Numerous ar ...

Electrophoresis, a technique consisting of the migration of electrically charged molecules under an applied electric field, occupies one of the most important places in the history of the study of hemoglobin (Hb). HbS, the first abnormal Hb described, was discovered in 1949 by Pauling et al. (1), ...

The hemoglobinopathies are a diverse group of inherited recessive disorders that include the thalassemias and sickle cell disease. They were the first genetic diseases to be characterized at the molecular level and, consequently, have been used as a prototype for the development of new te ...

Prenatal diagnosis of β-thalassemia was first accomplished in 1974, and since then, many countries have developed an extremely successful program for controlling the disorder based on population screening and fetal diagnosis. Initially, this was performed by the measurement of gl ...

Protein structural analysis took a big leap forward with the discovery of aromatic amino acid and protein fluorescence (1–4). The intrinsic fluorescence of proteins is a highly sensitive reporter of conformational change at or near the fluorescent tryptophans (Trp) and tyrosines (Tyr). ...

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic fibrosing lung disease limited to the lungs and associated with the histologic appearance of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) on surgical lung biopsy. The estimated prevalence in the United States is between 35,000 and 55,000 cases, and e ...

Retroviruses are naturally occurring viruses with an RNA genome. A retroviral vector is a modified infectious virus derived from murine or avian species that can be used to introduce nonviral DNAs into a target cell. There are two prominent features of retroviralmediated DNA transductio ...

Over the past decade, there has been spectacular growth in our understanding of the molecular genetics of eye development and ocular disease. Although this is primarily caused by developments in recombinant DNA technology, it is also caused in large part by advances in, and the spread of, transg ...

The RHO gene, which encodes rhodopsin, was the first gene in which mutations were found that were associated with an inherited retinal disease (1). RHO was examined by exon screening in a large population of patients with autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP), because a linkage study in ...

The ability to culture pluripotent cell lines, introduce into them targeted gene mutations, and then use these mutant cell lines to generate chimeric animals (1-4), has had a major impact on many fields; not least on ophthalmology and vision research (5-8). By generating animals lacking in the pro ...

Molecular biology has significantly contributed to our understanding of inherited retinal disease, in particular to that of monogenic disorders. The discovery of the responsible gene, the elucidation of its function, and the increasing understanding of the pathogenesis of inher ...

Retinoblastoma (Rb) is an intraocular tumor usually diagnosed in children under four years of age (1). The tumor rises when both alleles of the Rb tumor suppressor gene become inactivated in a retinal precursor cell during development (2,3). The first retinoblastoma cell line to be established ...

Molecular biology was first referred to as the study of the chemical and physical structure of biological macromolecules such as nucleic acids and proteins. Nucleic acids, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and ribonucleic acid (RNA) are polymers that consist of nucleotides. Proteins are po ...

It is often desirable to localize a specific protein within a layer, cell, or subcellular organelle in the retina. A variety of immunocytochemical techniques are available to achieve this goal. These techniques all utilize an antibody that binds to the protein of interest and is detected by a label ...

Antisense DNA technology is a method to inhibit or downregulate the production of a target protein by using antisense DNA or RNA molecules. An antisense sequence is a DNA or RNA that is perfectly complementary to the target nucleotide sequence present in the cell. There are two possible mechanisms ...

RNA enzymes, or ribozymes, can be defined as RNA molecules that promote a variety of reactions involving RNA and DNA molecules. These include site-specific cleavage, ligation, polymerization, and phosphoryl exchange (1). The use of ribozymes for medical therapy was recognized soon after ...

Tissue factor (TF) plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of thrombotic, vascular, and inflammatory disorders, and thus, the inhibition of this membrane protein provides a unique therapeutic approach for prophylaxis and/or treatment of various diseases. In recent years, tissue-fa ...

The role of cell adhesion molecules (CAM) and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in various pathological processes, including angiogenesis, thrombosis, apoptosis, cell migration, and proliferation, is well-documented. These processes can lead to both acute and chronic disea ...

Animal models have played a crucial role in the development of new antithrombotic drugs during the past few decades. Through the use of these animal models, the differentiation between the anticoagulant and antithrombotic effects was first recognized. Drugs that were unable to produce a p ...

Of more than 2 million deaths in the United States each year (from all causes), nearly 1 million are caused by cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD claims more lives each year than the next seven leading causes combined. The prevalence of CVD in the United States is indicated by the statistics: 50 million peo ...