The John and Marcia Carver Nonprofit Genetic Testing Laboratory

In 1996 the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine, Iowa, contributed $2 million to the University of Iowa to create the Carver Endowment for Molecular Ophthalmology. The Department of Ophthalmology of the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa also contributed $1 million to this endowment. The availability of this permanent endowment made it possible for the Molecular Ophthalmology Laboratory to develop a research-based genetic testing unit, known as The John and Marcia Carver Nonprofit Genetic Testing Laboratory. Since its inception, the laboratory has received over 50,000 samples from 49 contiguous states and 22 countries worldwide. The availability of these samples has been critical to the success of our inherited eye disease research program, which to date has mapped and/or identified over 30 genes responsible for human disease.