Lab News

December 10, 2024:

The Gene Therapy Center has now been officially designated a department.  Details still to come, but it will be named, "The Department of Genetic and Cellular Medicine". GCM for short!

November 13, 2024:

We just received a letter from the NIH that our R21 grant entitled, "In vitro and in vivo modeling of gene therapy vector stability when challenged by natural virus infection in human hepatocytes" has been awarded!  This is a tremendous milestone for our research group!  Looking forward to working on this very important research that is now receiving grant support. We are beyond overjoyed!!!

June 3, 2024:

We have moved to our new lab space at the New Education Research Building (NERB)!

Our new address is:

April 25, 2024:

Mengtian was a recipient of the The Office of Technology Commercialization & Ventures (OCTV) Technology Development Fund for 2024 for her proposal entitled, “Improving AAV2.MC1 transduction efficiency through directed evolution of the VP1u region”.  Her project, in collaboration with Dr. Sloan Wang of The Gao Lab, seeks to develop new gene therapy capsids with improved intracellular trafficking features.  Congratulations, Mengtian!

February 5, 2024:

Sam Lerner has joined the Tai Research Group as a Research Technician.  Welcome, Sam!

December 13, 2023:

Suk's proposal entitled, "SMRT sequencing of rAAVs harboring ITRs from different serotypes
to understand circular episome formation" was selected as one of the five winners of the 2023 PacBio STAR grant.
 
The award provides free sequencing of one SMRT cell with SeqCenter and monetary support to travel to a PacBio roadshow or local conference to present data.

Congratulations!

November 30, 2023:

It is with welcome surprise and honor that Tam Tran and Sandhiya Ravi both received ASGCT's Career Development Award for 2023 on separate grant proposals.

Tam's proposal entitled, "Analyzing the Integration of AAV Vectors Carrying Truncated Inverted Terminal Repeats (ITRs) in the Genomes of Transduced Cells" with support through the Children’s Tumor Foundation;

and

Sandhiya's proposal entitled, "Enhancing Truncation Event Prediction in AAV Vector Genome Designs through Advanced Deep Learning Techniques" with support through the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Congratulations, Sandhiya and Tam!

The American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy is the primary professional membership organization for gene and cell therapy. The Society's members are scientists, physicians, patient advocates, and other professionals. Our members work in a wide range of settings including universities, hospitals, government agencies, foundations, and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

The mission of ASGCT is to advance knowledge, awareness, and education leading to the discovery and clinical application of genetic and cellular therapies to alleviate human disease. ASGCT's strategic vision is to be a catalyst for bringing together scientists, physicians, patient advocates, and other stakeholders to transform the practice of medicine by incorporating the use of genetic and cellular therapies to control and cure human disease.

The Career Development Awards support independent transformative pilot studies in gene and cell therapy by ASGCT members, particularly those ideas that would be challenging to fund with normal funding mechanisms. ASGCT is interested in helping applicants generate their own independent preliminary data to use in larger proposals (NIH K awards, first-submission R-level funding, etc.) to gain independence.

Additionally, in 2023, ASGCT has partnered with the Children's Tumor Foundation (CTF). As part of a shared mission to drive scientific research and funding, the Children's Tumor Foundation is supporting three additional $100,000 Career Development Awards that may impact neurofibromatosis and schwannomatosis.

August 29, 2023:

Mengtian Cui has been awarded the 2023 HGTC Fellowship for her study proposal entitled, "Grafting of an enhanced VP1u region onto other capsid serotypes to boost transduction of adeno-associated virus vectors for gene therapy ".  Congratulations, Mengtian!

August 18, 2023:

Sophia has been selected to receive support from UMass Chan's NIH funded Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) grant.   Congratulations!

The Initiative for Maximizing Student Development at the UMass Chan Medical School (IMSD) program is funded by grant T32 GM135751 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The goal of this National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) program is to support educational programs that seek to increase diversity in the biomedical, behavioral and clinical research fields.

August 3, 2023:

We are thrilled to be awarded critical research support from UMass Chan's BRIDGE Fund to examine the benefit of grafting of an enhanced VP1u region derived from natural AAV2 capsids onto other capsid serotypes to boost transduction of adeno-associated virus vectors for gene therapy.  This project will be pursued in collaboration with my brilliant colleague, Dr. Jun Xie (Horae Gene Therapy Center and MaPS).

In addition, our wonderful colleages Dr. Kevin Donahue (Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine) and Dr. Ann Marshak-Rothstein (Department of Medicine, Rheumatology) are also awardees for separate research projects.  We are honored to be collaborating with these two teams on their exciting and innovative research!

The BRIDGE Fund supports critical research milestones for inventions and discoveries that have high potential to change the course of disease. The funding will mitigate investment risk by producing key data sets that would provide an attractive entry-point for partners and investors. This investment fund continues to grow, increasing from approximately $1 million per year in 2019 to $3 million in 2024.

Coverage in the Worcester Business Journal.

May 4, 2023:

We are honored to be the recipient of the The Bassick Family Foundation Award to develop a high-intensity and atrial-specific AAV-based gene therapy for treating atrial fibrillation.  This project will be pursued in collaboration with Dr. Kevin Donahue and his research team.

April 13, 2023:

Sophia has passed her QE!  Congratulations!

April 10, 2023:

Suk was highlighted in a UMass Chan Student Spotlight article.  Check it out:
PhD candidate aims to make gene therapy techniques safer

August 29, 2022:

Tapan Sharma has joined the Tai Research Group as a Postdoctoral Associate.  Welcome, Tapan!

August 23, 2022:

Congratulations to Sandhiya Ravi for being awarded the 2022 Horae Gene Therapy Postdoctoral Fellowship.  This award will support her research study entitled: “Designing immune cell-detargeting cassettes for gene therapy vectors with machine learning.”  We look forward to working with you on this exciting new project!

In April 2015, the Gene Therapy Center received a $2 million endowment from the Horae Oriental Shenzhen Investment Company of Guangdong, China. The Center was formally renamed the Horae Gene Therapy Center in recognition of this most generous gift on August 17, 2015. Using annual fair market return of this endowment fund, the Horae Gene Therapy Center decided to establish the Horae Gene Therapy Post-Doctoral Scholarship Program.

The Gene Therapy Center received a $2 million endowment from the Horae Oriental Shenzhen Investment Company of Guangdong, China. On August 17, 2015, the Center was formally renamed the Horae Gene Therapy Center in recognition of this most generous gift. Using annual fair market return of this endowment fund, the Horae Gene Therapy Center decided to establish the Horae Gene Therapy Post-Doctoral Scholarship Program.