Author: Victoria Ruth Richardson Lung diseases are a significant burden to human health globally, with around a third of deaths worldwide resulting from chronic respiratory diseases(1). The complex nature of the lungs means they can be afflicted by numerous conditions…
Author: Katie Birditt With a formidable name like Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy, some incredible real-life success stories, and undeniably ingenious genetic engineering it’s no wonder there was so much hype surrounding the emergence of this novel T cell-based…
Author: Saif Malik, University College London All the blood in the human body passes through the kidney 40 times a day for the removal of waste, excess fluid, and maintenance of electrolytes(1). On its way to the kidney from the…
Developing a practical, accessible resource to support Research Ethics Committees reviewing gene therapy trials. Authors: Rosie Munday, Hugh Davies and Stephanie Jones with the Oxford “A” Health Research Authority Research Ethics Committee. Following much public criticism of the oversight of…
By M. Rebeca Gil Garzón (PhD Student at Royal Holloway University of London, BSGCT Board member as an ECR). The journey so far… For any new technology there is always an adoption curve as the field gathers momentum. In the…
Authors: Rosie Mundy and Aimee Lucignoli Viruses have a long history of causing illness and disease, but a recent BSGCT blog post highlighted how they can also be used for good (https://www.bsgct.org/post/making-gene-and-cell-therapy-possible-viruses). By engineering, mutating and even a bit of…
Author: Sam Goldsmith PhD, Senior Commercialisation of Research Manager, CGT Catapult. The Valley of Death is a well-known and steep sided precipice over which the academic community are asked to traverse when translating novel therapeutic concepts into the clinic. However,…
So, we understand the problem. How do we fix it? Author: Alexander T. Baker, Senior Scientist, Accession Therapeutics Years of research have borne fruit, we have built an understanding of what causes a disease and, crucially, what needs to be…
Authors: Prof Alan Parker, February 2022. In late 2019, the world could never have foreseen the impact that a new, emerging zoonotic coronavirus could possibly have across the planet. Fast forward 12 months, hundreds of millions of cases of SARS-CoV-2…
Author: Dr Rajvinder Karda, University College London, 16 December 2021 Rare disease is defined by the European Commission on Public Health as life threatening or chronically debilitating conditions whose prevalence is less than 5 per 10,000 (1). NHS England published…