TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Working together, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and Roche Biomedical Laboratories in Research Triangle Park are developing a test for neurofibromatosis 1. Drs. Ruth Helm, Lawrence Silverman and Rosann Farber from UNC and Drs. Michael Luce and Lauren Kam-Morgan from Roche are collaborating on the PCR-based test that will allow earlier diagnosis and improve understanding of the disease.

Scientists cloned the gene for the incurable disorder in 1990, but they were able to identify mutations in only 5 percent to 15 percent of the patients they examined. Using the new test, the researchers have been able to find mutations in …