A decade-long partnership between ExxonMobil and Synthetic Genomics has set a goal of being able to make 10,000 barrels of algae biofuel a day by 2025.
First Clinical Trial to Assess Alzheimer’s Gene Therapy Receives $5 Million
News release
The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a $5 million grant to researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine to conduct a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial of a gene therapy for treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a condition that often precedes full-blown dementia.
Gene therapy is an experimental technique that uses genes or gene products to treat or prevent disease instead of relying on drugs or surgery.
The clinical trial, developed by principal investigator Mark Tuszynski, MD, PhD, professor of neuroscience and director of the Translational Neuroscience Institute at UC San Diego School of Medicine, delivers the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene into the brains of qualifying trial participants where it is hoped it will prompt production of BDNF in nearby cel