THE VISION OF CHILDREN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH ILLUMINA’S IHOPE PROGRAM

The Vision of Children Foundation partners with Illumina’s iHope program to provide limited number of whole genome sequencing tests for families affected by hereditary vision disorders in need.

Vivian Hardage, Co-Founder, The Vision of Children Foundation and Karen Possemato, Chief of Staff/Head of Corporate Communications, Illumina

The Vision of Children Foundation (VOC) is excited to announce a new partnership with Illumina, Inc., a San Diego based bio-technology company and global leader in the field of genomics. Under this new collaboration, Illumina has offered to provide a select number of whole genome sequencing (WGS) tests at no cost to VOC’s Family Network as part of their iHope Program.

These tests will analyze the entire genome of a child and his/her parents and investigate if genetic alterations are involved in causing a child’s vision disorder. The results may also finally provide a clear diagnosis for families who have previously been frustrated by inconclusive results and failed procedures, a desperate search for information that can otherwise take an average of seven years to complete. Overall, the comprehensive information gathered from these tests could possibly be of critical use in future clinical trials to find cures for genetic vision disorders. 

Many families in contact with VOC have considered and/or sought-out genetic testing, but the cost has been prohibitive. If you are interested in being considered for the whole genome sequencing test offered by Illumina’s iHope program, please contact Nancy Montejano at nancy@visionofchildren.org and request an application.

About The Vision of Children Foundation: The Vision of Children Foundation (VOC) is a 501( c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to cure hereditary childhood blindness and vision disorders.  Based in San Diego, VOC has been a driving force in funding groundbreaking research in its quest to find a cure for genetically caused eye disorders for children around the world. To learn more, please visit www.visionofchildren.org.