Novel technologies show promise for future of gene transfer

Several new technologies that could significantly impact the future of gene transfer applications were presented at a conference at the 10th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy (ASGT) in Seattle.

• A team of scientists led by Dr. Luigi Naldini at the San Rafaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (HSR-TIGET) in Milan have developed a new platform for regulating the expression of therapeutic genes, which will have major implications for gene and cell therapy.
• Dr. Naldini also presented his team's findings on therapeutic use of human stem cells, including potential application to X-linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (XSCID or “Bubble-Boy” disease).
• Dr. Anthony Cheung, from where, presented a safer method to deliver the insulin gene to juvenile diabetes patients using nanoparticles, developed with his colleagues at enGene, Inc., Vancouver.
• Finally, Dr. Krystof Bankiewicz, University of California-San Francisco, have developed an improved viral vector delivery system that allows real-time, direct MRI monitoring of the distribution of a gene transfer vector within the brain.

The American Society of Gene Therapy is a professional non-profit medical and scientific organization dedicated to the understanding, development and application of gene and related cell and nucleic acid therapies and the promotion of professional and public education in the field. For more information, visit

http://www.asgt.org