Engineering Viruses for Gene Therapy
At the May 2021 Innovation Hour, Hertz Fellow David Schaffer will discuss advances in gene therapy using engineered adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) that enable a broad range of therapeutic applications.
Gene therapy has been increasingly successful in human clinical trials, and there are currently five gene therapies approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The most successful gene delivery vehicles are based on AAVs; however, there are a number of delivery barriers that limit their efficacy and therapeutic success in treating human disease.
Schaffer, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, bioengineering, and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, will explain these limitations and discuss how his team is using directed evolution to engineer highly optimized variants of AAV. Schaffer’s novel AAV variants are currently used in five human clinical trials involving delivery to the retina and heart. He will also share some of the other novel AAV products his team has developed that will enter clinical trials this year.
This Hertz Foundation Innovation Hour will take place live on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Pacific, using the Zoom video conference platform. You can attend on a desktop, mobile device, or by phone. Please register using the form below, and we'll email you the Zoom meeting information.
About the Speaker
David Schaffer is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, bioengineering, and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also serves as the director of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences. David is also co-founder, chief scientist advisor and director of 4D Molecular Therapeutics.