Six years ago, I had dinner with my friend and co-founder Andrew Hessel and he told me something that blew my mind: it is possible to 3D print DNA. With this technology, we could engineer viruses for all kinds of purposes. One of the most compelling is to use these viruses as cancer therapies. My curiosity went into overdrive. Soon, we were spending long hours with our other co-founder Chad Moles, Chief Science Officer, figuring out how to turn this…
Tell me a bit about yourself. Hi there! I’m Manal, a born and bred New Yorker. Being a true child of the diaspora, I also spent a chunk of my life in Lebanon, my parents’ homeland. I’m a self-professed nerd (and proud), so in retrospect, it doesn’t seem too surprising that I eventually became a scientist. My love of science began long before I ever stepped foot into a laboratory. Growing up, I was fascinated by the wonders of the…
Today, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their groundbreaking discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs). This discovery has transformed our understanding of how cells regulate genes and opened new possibilities for diagnosing and treating diseases. But what exactly are miRNAs, and why are they so significant? What Are miRNAs? miRNAs are tiny pieces of RNA, typically about 22 nucleotides long, that act as master regulators in cells. They don’t code for proteins themselves…
We’re thrilled to announce that we’re returning to the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting for the second time! It’s an honor to be invited back to this prestigious event where we’ll be showcasing our groundbreaking work in the field of cancer therapeutics. AACR is the largest gathering of cancer researchers, clinicians, survivors, and advocates in the world, with over 20,000 attendees. Our Progress Since Last Year Last year’s experience in Orlando was unforgettable. We connected with fellow…
How viruses infect cells is key to developing safe oncolytic viral therapies. In this post we discuss how viruses can be engineered to target cancer cells. The infection process begins when a virus recognizes and attaches to a host cell. This attachment is typically mediated by viral proteins known as glycoproteins, which specifically bind to receptors on the surface of the target cell. These glycoproteins act like keys, unlocking the door to the cell by interacting with specific cell surface…
We were thrilled to present a poster of our work at AACR. It is one of the biggest conferences on cancer research, with 22,000 visitors. To get accepted, we had to write an abstract, which was reviewed, and we needed to be sponsored by an existing member. For us this was Dr. Sanjeev Vasudevan, whom we work with at Texas Children’s. Our poster gave a brief overview on our platform and the work we have done on Hepatoblastoma (liver cancer…
We are excited to announce we are presenting at the AACR annual meeting for the first time. AACR is the American Association for Cancer Research and its meeting is the largest in the world of cancer research. Last year, over 20,000 scientists, clinicians and other health care professionals, and survivors and patient advocates from around the world traveled to New Orleans. The AACR meeting for 2023 is held in Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida and we have been invited…
Q: Tell me a bit about yourself Hello! My name is Brenda and I grew up in Montgomery County Maryland. I spent a lot of my weekends visiting DC going to museums and visiting monuments nearby. The National Museum of Natural History is where I first fell in love with research and it helped shape a lot of my interests and career path. The exhibits and stories they told sparked my curiosity for science and discovery. When I visit home…
In this post we give an overview of the history of using viruses as potential treatment for cancer. We also outline the challenges a great viral therapy needs to overcome. Last, we review our approach to rationally design and engineer safe and effective oncolytic viruses. History and current state Since the middle of the last century there has been anecdotal evidence that virus infections can help in curing or slowing down cancer. Unfortunately these infections happened randomly and the results…
In this post, I would like to introduce the Humane Genomics Artificial Virus Platform. Why develop an artificial virus platform? For decades, a lot of research has been conducted to see if natural viruses can be used as cancer therapeutics, with limited success. Over the last 10 years, the technology to engineer, to build viruses specifically as cancer therapeutics has matured. However, most technology approaches to make these viruses are complicated, error prone, time consuming and expensive. To address these…