CQU Rockhampton staff and students put on their jeans and reached deep into their pockets for Jeans for Genes Day on Friday 2 August.

Community Relations Officer Priscilla Crighton said almost $600 was raised from the sale of badges on campus. She thanked the faculty and division staff for displaying the badges and to all those who bought badges on the day.

“It is an important day in the year for the Children’s Medical Research Institute who continually work hard to research genetic diseases,” Ms Crighton said.

One in 20 children are born with some form of genetic fault. There are children with leukaemia, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and many other disorders.

One of the many exciting developments this year at the CMRI will be work on MusTRD, a ‘hot’ topic for muscle research. This protein, which was discovered at the CMRI, may be able to control whether muscles develop into slow or fast twitch. Gene therapy with MusTRD may be one of the options for alleviating these muscle diseases once they have completed their research on the gene.

“The researchers at the CMRI are working to try to prevent genetic diseases before they occur in our children, or where that is not possible, to develop better treatments.” Ms Crighton said.

“The money we raised will go into a fund that guarantees long-term support for the scientists.”