How Gene-Edited White Blood Cells Are Helping Fight Cancer

Dr. Piyush Jain, a University of Florida Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering associate professor and UF Health Cancer Center scientist, shares in The Conversation about a gene-editing tool that has been used to treat advanced cancer in three patients and showed promising early results in a pilot phase 1 clinical trial, for the first time in the United States. So far the treatment appears safe, and more results are expected soon.

“I am trained as a pharmaceutical scientist and a biomolecular engineer, and I was particularly interested to learn about this new therapy because my lab focuses on editing the gene editors. In particular, I am trying to develop even better CRISPR-based gene editors for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other disorders. We combine chemistry, biology and nanotechnology to engineer, control and deliver gene-editing tools more efficiently and precisely,” he says.

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