When poor communication pokes you in the eye

The ocular lens belongs to the optical apparatus and focuses incidental beams of light onto the retina. Now, a research team led by Dr. Jochen Graw of the Institute of Developmental Genetics, of the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, has been able to decipher a genetic defect responsible for small eyes and an incomplete, clouded lens in the so-called Aey12 mouse mutants. These results lead to conclusions concerning cataracts in humans, because, in this case too, the lens loses its transparency.