UMMS establishes gene therapy collaborative research agreement with Pfizer
Researchers will evaluate productivity and quality determinants of recombinant adeno-associated virus production
UMass Medical School Communications April 08, 2021
UMass Medical School has entered into a three-year, collaborative research agreement with Pfizer to evaluate determinants that influence the manufacturing quality and yield of viral vectors used in gene therapy. The research is being jointly conducted by Pfizer and UMMS, with the research at UMMS being performed under the direction of Guangping Gao, PhD, the Penelope Booth Rockwell Professor in Biomedical Research, professor of microbiology & physiological systems, director of the Horae Gene Therapy Center and co-director of the Li Weibo Institute for Rare Diseases Research, and Dan Wang, PhD, assistant professor of RNA therapeutics.
Atalanta Therapeutics founded by UMass Medical School and three faculty members
Biotech launches with $110 million to pioneer RNA therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases By Mark L. Shelton January 12, 2021
Atalanta Therapeutics, a biotech founded by UMass Medical School and three faculty research scientists to pioneer treatment options for neurodegenerative diseases, has launched with financing by venture capital fund F-Prime Capital and strategic collaborations with Biogen and Genentech.
Atalanta’s technology, called branched siRNA and licensed from UMass Medical School, is based on more than 30 years of research at the Medical School in the field of RNA biology and its clinical applications. Branched siRNA is a novel oligonucleotide architecture that has shown potent ability to silence gene expression in the central nervous system and can be applied across multiple neurodegenerative diseases.