The Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy is realizing the project – Kids University “Medicine and Art”. Registration is required for participation in the project - http://tiny.cc/4py5nz.

Genetics is the field, which studies the genes, the principles and regularities of heredity and variability. It is a well-known fact, that genes determine the concrete feature of an organism (for example color of hair and eye). However, due to the different influences genes can be damaged and as a result the concrete disorder can be developed.

Genetic disorders, those are one of the most important issues of the modern medicine, have been recognized by painters too. In Italian city Mantua, one of the wall paintings (painter Andrea Mantegna, 1431-1506) of the Gonzaga Palace wedding hall depicts the servant woman. At her face it is possible to identify the visual signs characteristic to the type 1 neurofibromatosis.  This autosomal dominant genetic disorder is caused by a mutation of a single gene located in chromosome 17. It has been described in 1882 by a German physician, Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen.

This wall painting isn’t a single case genetic disorders appearance in painting. To find and discuss other examples, register and get involved in the project.