In every grant proposal he's ever written, ophthalmologist and HHMI investigator Edwin M. Stone has included what he calls the "promises" paragraph. "We say that if we find this gene, we will be able to provide more specific and accurate diagnosis or offer better genetic counseling," he says. But a few years ago, Stone started asking himself an uncomfortable question: What if the promises he was making were empty? continued...

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Reprinted from the
HHMI Bulletin,
December 2003, pages 24-27.
©2003 Howard Hughes
Medical Institute