Royal visit to Children’s Medical Research Institute

HRH Queen Silvia of Sweden will be visiting one of Australia’s leading research facilities during her short visit to Sydney this month. The Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) will host Her Majesty and take her on a tour of their world class facilities.

Queen Silvia has heard about and is impressed by the outstanding quality of work exhibited by scientists at the CMRI.  She will have an opportunity to briefly meet developmental biologist, Dr Patrick Tam, whose international reputation has been earned through his work in embryology and studies of early development. 

Queen Silvia is the patron of a number of leading Swedish research facilities, and is interested in Australia’s contribution to medical research.  During her visit she will also get a first hand look at the CMRI’s research on childhood genetic eye disorders such as blindness, glaucoma and cataracts. 

Dr Tam believes that if more can be understood about the genetic processes which develop the eye, then screening programs and therapeutic interventions can be found to treat or prevent these disorders.

Looking at the early stages of development also led Dr Tam’s unit this year to some important findings relating to the understanding of Rett Syndrome, a serious genetic brain disorder and the second most common form of severe intellectual disability in girls after Down Syndrome. Their work on this disease showed that the severity of a child’s condition can be determined according to which parent a child inherits the faulty gene from. 

They also discovered a new gene which can lead to this disorder, which is also relevant in the understanding of epilepsy and Turner Syndrome.

The CMRI is a state of the art research facility. Scientists at the facility research the causes of genetic disorders, which in turn leads to preventative treatments for these diseases. 

The CMRI is the beneficiary of the Australia-wide Jeans for Genes Day fundraising campaign.