Researcher at Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation Featured in United Nations Campaign
Wednesday, May 6th, 2015 -- 8:17 AM
-Murray Brilliant, Ph.D., a world-renowned researcher in human genetics at Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, is one of 12 people featured in the United Nations global campaign launched to raise awareness for albinism.The campaign, "People with Albinism: Not Ghosts but Human Beings," is spearheaded by the U.N. Human Rights Office to help people better understand what causes albinism and that social exclusion, stigma and discrimination is unacceptable.
Brilliant first began studying albinism in mice, when he sought to answer the question: "Why are there so many different colors of mice?" His answer showed the genetic mutations that cause this variety in mice also are responsible for the most common form of human albinism.
Since then, Brilliant has continued to study human albinism, including in Tanzania where it's estimated that 1 in 1,400 people have albinism and 1 in 19 carries the gene. Brilliant, director of the Center for Human Genetics, MCRF, is considered one of the leading albinism experts worldwide.
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