Anna Kajaste-Rudnitski, PhD - "Dissecting Cell Intrinsic Innate Immunity against Viral Vectors"

  • When Feb 11, 2025 from 12:00 PM to 12:15 PM (Europe/Berlin / UTC100)
  • Where Tigem Auditorium Angelo Maramai
  • Contact Name
  • Contact Phone 08119230659
  • Add event to calendar iCal
Anna Kajaste-Rudnitski, PhD - "Dissecting Cell Intrinsic Innate Immunity against Viral Vectors"
Anna Kajaste-Rudnitski, PhD
Full Professor
Department of Biology and Biotechnology
University of Pavia
Pavia, Italy

Short CV

Abstract
The low gene manipulation efficiency of human hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and other clinically relevant target tissues remains a major hurdle for sustainable and broad clinical application of innovative therapies for a wide range of disorders. Current and emerging gene transfer and editing technologies expose cells to components potentially recognized by host antiviral factors and nucleic acid sensors that likely restrict their genetic engineering and contribute to broad individual variability in clinical outcomes. In this context, our research is focused on identifying the antiviral factors and innate sensing pathways that prevent efficient modification of target tissues relevant for gene therapy such as cells of the hematopoietic and central nervous systems with the aim of mitigating their effects using methods developed through the understanding of their mechanisms of action. Our studies on vector-host interactions have uncovered how gene therapy target tissues sense distinct viral vectors and identified potent innate immune blocks to gene transfer and editing, leading to the development of novel, highly efficient gene therapy approaches. In this talk, I will review and illustrate recent advances in our understanding of how pathogen recognition and consequent innate immune signaling may affect efficacy and safety of gene therapy approaches across delivery platforms and clinically relevant target tissues.