Awarded in 2020
Home Department: Bioengineering
Faculty Advisors: Lei Stanley Qi (Bioengineering and Chemical & Systems Biology) and Crystal Mackall (Pediatrics – Hematology & Oncology and Medicine – Blood & Marrow Transplantation)

Research Title: Reprogramming CAR-T Cells to Deliver CRISPR Payloads for Targeted Gene Therapy

Research Description: CRISPR-based gene-editing shows great promise as a therapy for genetic diseases, but effective delivery remains a major challenge. Victor will design, build, and test a new CRISPR delivery platform that uses reprogrammed CAR-T cells designed to conditionally deliver synthetic proteins into target cells upon antigen recognition while mitigating cytotoxicity. Originally developed for cancer immunotherapy, the CAR-T cells will be used to repair genetic mutations in a Duchenne muscular dystrophy model. Victor’s work will improve CRISPR delivery as a genetic therapy as well as expanding the available synthetic immunology toolbox with applications beyond oncology.

WHERE IS HE NOW?

Victor is a scientist at Site Therapeutics, an early stage startup in SF (Mission Bay) focusing on high-throughout functional genomics to treat immune-related diseases.