Newly transcribed genes in differentiating cells may experience a brief burst of mutations as the cells adapt to a new state of DNA repair. Collectively, these results demonstrate that our knockin Q344XhRho-GFP mouse model can report gene correction events in retina rod photoreceptors with very high sensitivity and good time resolution, providing an excellent system to probe mechanisms of DNA repair in photoreceptors cells during retinogenesis, as well as a powerful tool to test and optimize approaches aimed at editing the genomes of these cells as a means to treat degenerative diseases of the retina. Genetic predisposition to PTB has been demonstrated in numerous studies. Among twin pregnancies, the genetic contribution to PTB is estimated to be approximately 30%. In singletons, genetic susceptibility to PTB is based on the evidence of familial aggregation, measures of heritability, identification of disease-susceptibility genes and racial disparity in PTB rate that may be related to differences in risk-predisposing allele frequencies. PTB rates are higher in sisters of women with a history of PTB compared to their sistersin-law. Several studies have confirmed a two-fold increase in risk of PTB for black American women compared to white American, women even after controlling for socio-economic factors associated with PTB. Single nucleotide polymorphisms are the most thoroughly investigated genetic markers in relation to PTB. Many SNPs in maternal or fetal genomes have been reported to be associated with spontaneous preterm birth, but often the results have not been replicated in subsequent studies. New systems biology approaches allow integration of functional genomics related to a phenotype or a disease in a connectivity network. Such convergent genomics allow identification of factors that affect downstream or upstream regulation of many candidate genes. Multiple relevant factors may converge on a similar pathway or gene, or conversely, one upstream stress condition/transcription factor may be responsible for regulation of several different pathways. EX 527 Pathways or genes identified through this process may not be detected in individual genetic association studies. This ‘convergent genomics’ approach has been undertaken in the area of preterm birth in a recent study evaluating the impact of genetics on gestation age at delivery. IPA also includes interaction data to assign genes to different groups and categories of functionally related genes. It measures the associations of genes that are entered into the software, termed “focus genes”, with other molecules, such as proteins, genes, cells, tissues, diseases or medications. Focus genes are defined in the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis as the important genes which interact with molecules in the Global Molecular Network. A gene cannot be considered a focus gene if there are no known molecular interactions involving that gene in the Ingenuity Knowledge Database. Ingenuity calculates single p-values for the enrichment of each gene category using the Fisher’s exact test, taking into consideration both, the total number of molecules from the analyzed data set and the total number of molecules linked to the same gene category in the Ingenuity Knowledge Base reference set.