About
Dr. Daiger does research, teaching and service in medical genetics and in the causes and treatments of inherited retinal diseases. He is Director of the Laboratory for Molecular Diagnosis of Inherited Eye Diseases, a CLIA-Certified DNA diagnostic facility. He is administrator of the RetNet Retinal Information Network. Dr. Daiger is also a Vice Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, Medical Chair of the Houston FFB Chapter and VisonWalk, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of AGTC, Inc. He is an Elected Fellow of the AAAS and a recipient of the Barbara Bowman Distinguished Texas Geneticist award from the Texas Genetics Society. Dr. Daiger’s research is focused on gene discovery and mutation detection for inherited retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP). RP is a progressive disease resulting in loss of vision and blindness. His specific areas of interest are the causes and treatments of autosomal dominant and X-linked RP. Dr. Daiger and his colleagues have identified a number of retinal disease genes, including AIPL1, ARL3, BBS8, HK1, IMPDH1, KIF3B, KLHL7, RP1 and SNRNP200, with over 170 related publications. DNA screening in the diagnostic laboratory currently leads to identification of disease-causing mutations in 82% of dominant RP families. Several families have entered clinical trials based on genetic results from the laboratory.
Center Affiliation
Research Interests
- Epidemiology
- Genetics and -omics