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Scientists Aim Gene-Targeting Breakthrough Against COVID-19

Cellular delivery system developed at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry could be the missing link in battle against SARS-CoV-2


Stanley Qi, an assistant professor in the Stanford departments of bioengineering, and chemical and systems biology, and his team have developed a new technique called PAC-MAN – or Prophylactic Antiviral CRISPR in human cells – that uses the gene-editing tool CRISPR to fight influenza. 

When news of the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, Qi and his team published a preprint of their paper, in the hopes of finding a potential collaborator with expertise in cellular delivery techniques.    They found a strong collaboration partner. 

Since March, Qi and his team have been working with a group led by Michael Connolly, a principal scientific engineering associate in the Biological Nanostructures Facility at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry, to develop a system that delivers PAC-MAN into the lung cells of a patient.  

Read the full article on the Berkeley Lab website.

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