Dr. Or Shemesh has actually received a $400,000 NIH award to develop a brand-new platform for dealing with brain disorders by modifying glial cells with bioengineered RNAs, using a promising approach to combat illness like Alzheimers without the immune risks associated with viral vectors.Or Shemesh, Ph.D., a neurobiologist at the University of Pittsburgh, has gotten a three-year, $400,000 Trailblazer Award from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, part of the NIH. “Glia cells are essential to the development of brain disease, so approaches that change their activity could lead to brand-new treatments,” states Shemesh, assistant professor of neurobiology at Pitts School of Medicine.Or Shemesh, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. These artificial RNAs are straight translated into proteins by cellular machinery, preventing the possibility of setting off an immune reaction when an infection is utilized to transfer genes into the cell.To show the idea works, Shemeshs group will utilize their glia RNA-vector innovation to decrease the activity or increase of disease-relevant genes in either astrocytes or microglia in the brains of mice.
