Nathan Yozwiak, PhD, on Collaboration for Cell and Gene Therapy Development

"Gene therapy is the ultimate team sport within science, it's one of the reasons I love it, not only in terms of the stages of development of the product, but also often developing the gene or cell therapy itself. You need to figure out how you're going to deliver it, what's the route of administration? What's the capsid, or delivery vehicle that you're going to use? How do you design the transgene? How do you consider an animal model? That naturally lends itself to bringing together a lot of different expertise.”

As gene and cell therapies grow in prevalence, continuing early research in the field is paramount to improving multiple aspects of these novel therapies. A number of researchers from Mass General Brigham (MGB) presented work dealing with new technologies and new methods aiming to improve gene and cell therapy and its delivery to different tissues, particularly the brain, at the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) 27th Annual Meeting, held May 7 to 10, 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland.

CGTLive® spoke with Nathan Yozwiak, PhD, head of research, Cell and Gene Therapy Institute, MGB, to learn more about the research presented at the meeting and other research that MGB is engaged in with cell and gene therapy. He discussed the MGB Gene and Cell Therapy Institute and emphasized its value as a resource for sponsors, investigators, and researchers involved with gene and cell therapies to hopefully speed up the process of developing these therapies. He stressed the importance of collaboration when developing and then assessing gene and cell therapies and how administrating these therapies is a big collaborative lift.

REFERENCE

Mass General Brigham Gene and Cell Therapy Researchers Present Key Findings at ASGCT. News release. Mass General Brigham. May 7, 2024. https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-releases/gene-and-cell-therapy-researchers-present-at-asgct