Alternative splicing of VEGF

Alternative splicing is a regulatory pathway that can can change the messenger RNA produced from a gene and subsequently the proteins that are generated. If the message is changed by alternative splicing, this can change the kind of protein made, including its structure or function. Splicing means that even without changing your genes you can change their product. If harnessed this provides a method to turn off bad genes, turn on good genes or even switch the code to that a bad gene only makes good protein products. For example splicing can change the message "born with bad luck" into "born with luck" by skipping a coding sequence. The gene VEGF is partly regulated by splicing. This project aims to harness this splicing to develop a simple way to silence its 'bad' domain, to reduce abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye involved in progressive eye damage in diabetes.