Author Archives: Betsy Clarke

Law Will Establish an Advisory Council on Rare Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The experimental treatment uses a genetically modified virus to deliver a missing gene into the cerebrospinal fluid of children with giant axonal neuropathy (GAN).

Lori Sames, NORD 2015 Portraits in Courage Honoree Dr. Steven Gray, Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology, UNC Gene Therapy Center member and associate investigator for the Phase I gene therapy clinical trial Lori Sames, co-founder of Hannah’s Hope Fund, which supports research to find a cure for Giant Axonal Neuropathy (GAN), was...

  Dr. Katharine Liang with mentor, Dr. Jude Samulski Kat with her family Katharine Liang, a member of Jude Samulski’s lab, and MD/PhD student in the Neurobiology Program, successfully defended her thesis, “Intravitreal AAV-mediated expression of Nrf2 promotes retinal recovery after light-induced retinal damage in mice,” on April 8, 2015....

  Dr. Jayme Warischalk with mentor, Dr. Jude Samulski Jayme with her husband and baby daughter Jayme Warischalk, a member of the Jude Samulski lab, successfully defended her Ph.D. March 18, 2015. Our congratulations to Jayme! The title of her talk was “Uncovering structural components of the adeno-associated viral capsid...

Dr. Aravind Asokan The collaboration between Aravind Asokan, researcher at the Gene Therapy Center, and Charles Gersbach, a Duke biomedical engineer, to develop gene therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy – a rapidly worsening form of muscular dystrophy – is spotlighted on UNC’s website March 6. Dr. Asokan’s expertise is in...

Dr. Sarah Nicolson and Dr. Jude Samulski post Ph.D. Sarah Nicolson successfully defended her thesis titled “Understanding mechanisms of Adeno-associated virus vector transduction through pharmacological and biological approaches” and received her Ph.D on July 7, 2104. A party was held afterward in celebration.

Dr. Aravind Asokan, Associate Professor Congratulations to Dr. Aravind Asokan who was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in April, 2014. Dr. Asokan received his Ph.D. in 2004 from UNC Chapel Hill, Pharmaceutical Chemistry. In 2009 he was appointed to Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics at UNC and...

This story appears in the April 14, 2014 issue of Forbes.

Dr. Paul Monahan, Professor Gene Therapy would like to congratulate Dr. Paul Monahan who was promoted to Full Professor in February, 2014. Dr. Monahan received his M.D. in 1990 from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, VA and completed his Internship/Residency at UNC Chapel Hill. He is...