Transcript Virus engineering

Robert Ovadia’s 5x5
Engineering Viruses
Stanford iGEM 2009 Meeting #4 by Robert Ovadia
2/4/09
The Problem
2
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Cancer
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Too many cancers: lung, liver, stomach,
skin… the list goes on
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Brain Tumors
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Over 200,000 people are diagnosed yearly
(Central Brain Tumor Reg. of the US 2005)
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Current therapy is costly and not effective
Stanford iGEM 2009 Meeting #4 by Robert Ovadia
2/4/09
The Solution
3
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Brain Tumors
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The brain is isolated from the immune
system (Blood brain barrier)
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If we engineered a microbe, could it really
survive?
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Probably not…
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Most living organisms (except our cells)
couldn’t survive in the brain, and if it did, it
would be damaging to us.
Stanford iGEM 2009 Meeting #4 by Robert Ovadia
2/4/09
The Solution
4
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Brain Tumors
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Engineer a virus
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Viruses are an ideal in targeting cells and
delivering a gene
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EX: Genentech’s Pulmozyme ®
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EX: Vesicular Stomach Virus (VSV) by Dr.
Van de pol of Yale
Stanford iGEM 2009 Meeting #4 by Robert Ovadia
2/4/09
The Solution
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Brain Tumor - 5 Projects
1. Target brain tumors
2. Regulation
3. Delivery
4. Marker
5. ______
NOTE: The idea of engineering viruses is open to
ALL ideas! We don’t have to do cancer.
5
Stanford iGEM 2009 Meeting #4 by Robert Ovadia
2/4/09