The Business Journal's 2024 Women of Influence have done, and continue to do, things that challenge them. They have started businesses, reached the upper echelons of their companies, raised millions of dollars in funding, orchestrated multibillion-dollar deals, turned financially ailing institutions into profitable ones, searched for cures to eradicate cancer, and aided countless people along the way. Read more below to see how one of our very own, Deirdre Hake, contributes to that community of success and leadership.
As a result of a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Delaware Tech and the ChristianaCare Health System’s Gene Editing Institute began collaborating in 2018 to develop a unique gene editing curriculum now in place not only at Delaware Tech, but also in many other college classrooms across the country. This piece explores the impact that gene editing research had on one Zaina Punter, a Delaware Tech graduate studying a color change reaction in proteins and the utilization of CRISPR for precise edits.
Delaware was again recognized as a leader in the growing field of precision medicine after an announcement last October featured multiple Delaware institutions which would become active partners in the Greater Philadelphia Region Precision Medicine Tech Hub. Read more about the current breakthroughs being seen across this state, including those within our own lab space.
Healthcare takes center stage among a diverse group of new First State ventures with bright futures. Launched in 2022, CorriXR Therapeutics, the Gene Editing Institute's first spin-out, has made #1 on Technical.ly's list of up-and-coming companies in Delaware.
ChristianaCare's Gene Editing Institute lifts up women and scientific creativity to work to find ways to treat diseases and cure cancer.
For the inaugural episode of CMN Live on 26th January 2024, reporter Karen O'Hanlon Cohrt spoke with Eric Kmiec, Ph.D. about the successes of therapeutic gene editing to date, as well as the challenges that lie ahead. Dr. Kmiec is the Scientific Director at the ChristianaCare Gene Editing Institute in Delaware and Chief Scientific Officer at CorriXR Therapeutics, which is developing novel therapies for cancer based on in vivo gene editing.
Lung cancer accounts for approximately one in five cancer deaths globally. The high death toll makes the development of new treatments and improvement of old ones a top priority. One of the challenges with traditional chemotherapy is that tumours can develop resistance to treatment. For several years, Eric B Kmiec, PhD, at the Gene Editing Institute of ChristianaCare, USA and colleagues have worked on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR). Using this technology, the researchers aim to develop new methods to make cancer cells more susceptible to chemotherapy. With their latest discovery, they hope to significantly improve the quality of life for cancer patients undergoing prolonged treatment.
On this week's episode, we talk with Eric Kmiec, Ph.D., Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer at ChristianaCare's Gene Editing Institute, about the patient-centered approach his researchers take. We find out what factors the team considers first when determining what to study and learn what that means for the development of new medicines to treat cancer and inherited diseases.
Join us for a great conversation on the past, present and future of gene editing - what is working, what is not, what opportunities there are beyond medicine and so much more.
Collaboration between disciplines to accelerate the development of new technologies has been widely embraced in Delaware. And nowhere is that spirit of entrepreneurship more evident than in the fields of education and healthcare. Colleges and universities serve as incubators for healthcare startups, and healthcare systems partner with educational institutions to develop tomorrow’s medical researchers and new health-care solutions.
The region has dozens of researchers using CRISPR and other gene-editing techniques in their labs, a handful of companies specializing in gene editing and a dedicated gene editing institute in Delaware.
Nature makes mistakes, even with our human genetic makeup. Not surprisingly, since discovery of the DNA double helix 70 years ago, scientists of various disciplines have been searching for ways to correct nature’s errors ever since.
Much of that search was theoretical until the 1990s when the Human Genome Project sequenced our genetic playbook. It was during this period that biochemist and molecular biologist Eric Kmiec began his research into gene therapy at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
Dr. Eric Kmiec is an leading researcher in the field of gene editing using CRISPR technology. He discusses the incredible opportunity to cure disease- and things that can be of concern.
"I think those of us who contribute to the field aggressively believe it is the right tool," says Eric Kmiec, Ph.D. "But now, the real challenge is: How do you use it properly?"
Researchers at the Gene Editing Institute at ChristianaCare have been moving forward with an effort to use CRISPR-directed gene editing technology in the clinic. Not quite eight years later, the institute has published a study in Gene Therapy, which shows that, in vitro, CRISPR-directed gene editing can successfully knock out a chemoresistance gene in non-small cell lung carcinoma cells.
Resistance to chemotherapy is a major challenge in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. By profiling the spectrum of outcomes arising from CRISPR-based knockout of the NRF2 protein, which contributes to chemoresistance, Eric Kmiec Ph.D. and Kelly Banas Ph.D. of the ChristianaCare Gene Editing Institute have developed a new therapeutic strategy that increases the sensitivity of cancer cells to traditional chemotherapy.
For decades, scientists have hypothesized about a future when diseases could be treated with gene editing techniques. The reality is getting closer to fruition! In this fascinating episode, Drs. Eric Kmiec and Natalia Rivera-Torres at ChristianaCare’s Gene Editing Institute share the latest developments in DNA alteration and explain why CRISPR gene editing continues to offer the most promise.
Salem Academy teamed up with ChristianaCare's Gene Editing Institute to give the kids a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The Gene Editing Institute devised a kit to introduce students to the basics of gene editing. Usually, the scientists there teach students on their campus in Delaware, but in January, Salem Academy students added gene editing to their repertoire in an exclusive winter seminar taught by actual genetic researchers.
CRISPR is revolutionizing experimental therapies for genetic disorders ranging from sickle cell disease to blindness, but where should society draw the line in editing genes?
Study in The CRISPR Journal reports the app advances CRISPR gene therapy R&D; 18-year-old software savant helped lead the app’s development.
A commitment to community, reducing inequity and health disparities in health care, educating the next generation in gene editing, and advocating that all people have access to breakthrough technologies have long been priorities for the Gene Editing Institute at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute at ChristianaCare in Delaware. Eric Kmiec, Ph.D. a pioneer in the field of gene editing and director of the Gene Editing Institute, recently had an opportunity to talk about these priorities as part of a media briefing coordinated in conjunction with the region’s Cell & Gene Therapy and Connected Health Initiative.
The education tool is designed to be used by high schools, community colleges, universities and life sciences companies to better understand CRISPR technology and its applications to healthcare.