2016
Cystic Fibrosis Trust Strategic Research Centre for in vivo and ex vivo gene Editing
The gene editing group led by Patrick Harrison is set to become a key member of a new virtual Strategic Research Centre following the award of a €920,000 grant from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust
The overall goal of this SRC, led by Prof Stephen Hart of the Institute of Child Health in London, is to to determine the most suitable approaches to correct the most common CF-causing mutations using in vivo and ex vivo gene editing models.
The team of five principal investigators with expertise in gene editing, nanoparticle delivery, stem cell biology, electrophysiology, and respiratory medicine, are based in Cork and London (UCL, St. George’s and Great Ormond Street Hospital), and will lead a team of five PhD and post-doctoral researchers towards this goal over the next three years.
The SRC is underpinned by the UCC gene editing team who are also funded by the American Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to correct three rare CF mutations in collaboration with clinical groups in Denver, Paris and Scotland.
As part of an international drive to develop novel gene-based therapeutic approaches for rare diseases, Dr. Harrison co-chaired a gene editing workshop at the North American CF Conference in Phoenix in October 2015, and is the keynote speaker at the 2016 Genetic Disorders Leadership Symposium in March in London.
Dr. Harrison has also secured SFI funding to organise a two-day workshop in Dublin on Cystinosis where the keynote speaker will be Dr. Bill Gahl, Clinical Director of the NIH’s Genome Research Institute, and was recently interviewed for an article on gene editing in the Irish Times (http://bit.ly/1VPmPkS).