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The Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) is pleased to announce that awards have been made to five projects from the Harvard University Genomic Medicines Fund. The fund is intended to support of research involving genome editing that is useful or relevant to the field of genomic medicine for the prevention or treatment of human disease.
Funded projects represent fields of study including biomedical statistics, chemical biology, and stem cell research. Awardee labs will work in areas such as targeted gene correction and repair of muscle cells toward a treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and uncovering molecular mechanisms that drive stem cell aging in skin, to identify secreted factors that can rejuvenate aged tissue.
“The applications to this funding opportunity reflect Harvard’s strength in a highly important area of research for human health” said John H. Shaw, senior vice provost for research, adding that “we look forward to following the progress of the funded projects, which will certainly yield exciting and impactful results.”
The five projects selected for awards from the Harvard University Genomic Medicines Fund are:
“Development of a Novel Multi-gene Delivery Vector Harnessing Human Cytomegalovirus” by George Church, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School and Co-Investigator Jenny Tam, Lecturer in Genetics, Harvard Medical School and Director, Synthetic Biology, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
“An All-optical Pooled Platform to Discover and Optimize Genomic Medicines” by Adam Cohen, John P. Reardon Jr. Professor of Chemistry & Chemical Biology and of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
“Functional Genomic Discovery of Drivers of Skin Aging” by Ya-Chieh Hsu, Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
“Improving CRISPR Therapeutic Safety Through Single-Cell and Single-Molecule Off-Target Analysis” by Peter Park, Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School
“Advancing Gene Editing in Muscle Stem Cells for Enduring Rescue of Inherited Muscle Disease” by Amy Wagers, Forst Family Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
