The Molecular Genetics Thalassaemia Department is part of the Cyprus Institute of
Neurology and Genetics and directed by Dr. Marina Kleanthous. The
department provides diagnostic services for the different forms of thalassaemia,
performs prenatal diagnosis of thalassaemia to all couples at risk in Cyprus and
neighbouring countries and the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of thalassaemia.
The Thalassaemia Laboratory also offers training courses on thalassaemia and other
haemoglobinopathies and pursues multiple thalassaemia-related research programmes,
including
- the detection of thalassaemia mutations in ancient DNA
- studies on the molecular basis of different forms of thalassaemia, genotype/phenotype
correlation studies in thalassaemia patients and in carriers of thalassaemia traits
- studies on the drug therapy of thalassaemia using transgenic mouse cells and human
erythroid burst-forming cells
- development of a non-invasive prenatal diagnosis method for β-thalassaemia.