On Wednesday, August 12th at 7 PM, Nobel laureate David Baltimore will join stem cell expert Paula Cannon to tell us why they think gene therapy will be vital to curing and controlling HIV.
Get some answers about gene therapy and its potential to cure HIV and prevent its transmission during a moderated Q&A with two of the brilliant minds working to achieve the impossible.
This FREE community event will be held in Pelton Auditorium, which is located in the Thomas Building on the campus of
Fred Hutch, Seattle, WA (1100 Fairview Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109).
Joining Baltimore will be a woman whose lab has been at the forefront of this field of science.
Her work has brought us the first clinical trial of genetically modified blood stem cells in human beings as well as science talks with saucy titles, such as "Giving HIV the [Zinc] Finger Using Targeted an HIV-Resistant Immune System"
Her name is Dr. Paula Cannon.
Dr. Cannon’s research is focused on gene therapy, hematopoietic stem cells, and HIV. Her expertise in the laboratory lies in gene editing and humanized mice
Using zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) to genetically alter CD4 cells is proving safe and effective in treatment studies. Laboratory work conducted by Cannon suggests it might be possible to do the same thing with stem cells to rebuild entire immune systems resistant to HIV, thus curing the virus.
Cannon is part of a “Disease Team’ of researchers awarded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), who gave out more than $250 million to 14 multidisciplinary teams of researchers in California, the UK and Canada to develop stem cell-based therapies for 11 diseases.[raw]
Cannon’s Team seeks to treat HIV using a gene therapy approach to modify the patient’s blood-forming stem cells. When transplanted back, those cells will produce T cells that are resistant to HIV infection
The Phase I clinical trial, which is sponsored by City of Hope and funded by Sangamo BioSciences and CIRM, has started to enroll participants.
Since this is the first study of its kind involving modified blood stem cells, the FDA has set the bar for safety precautions very high. How did they convince the FDA that there was a reasonable expectation of safety in moving this technique into humans? That there would be no impact on stem cell function and no tumors developing from this treatment?
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