NYSCF Innovator Uses Gene Editing Technology to Screen Deadly Brain Cancer for Weaknesses
NewsNYSCF – Robertson Stem Cell Investigator and NYSCF – Robertson Stem Cell Prize Awardee Dr. Feng Zhang and his team at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT published their latest work investigating the genetic mutations cells acquire en route to becoming glioblastoma, a deadly brain cancer.
Using CRISPR genetic editing technology, a technique pioneered in human cells by Dr. Zhang, the scientists created a mouse model that recapitulated human glioblastoma. Using these mice, the researchers identified a functional landscape of introduced genetic mutations in different glioblastoma tumors, including mutations that made the tumors more receptive to chemotherapy treatments.
Watch a presentation by NYSCF – Robertson Investigator, Feng Zhang, PhD, who helped pioneer the revolutionary CRISPR gene editing tool.
This critical research, reported in Nature Neuroscience, provides a basis of understanding and screening for the genetic fallibility in human glioblastomas, a first step towards new treatments and potentially even cures for glioblastoma and other cancers.