Welcome to the second of our new series of expert webinars. The LinkAGE (Linking Academia and Genomics Education) series will aim to provide expert seminars on exciting ‘bench-to-bedside’ projects that are likely to impact on clinical practice in the not-too-distant future.
Our second webinar and Q&A session in the series was broadcast live on Tuesday 21 February at 5pm and provided an introduction to CRISPR and the history of gene editing. It was presented by cellular therapeutics expert Dr James Patterson.
By the end of the webinar, you should be able to:
- explain CRISPR and the history of gene editing;
- describe why Cas9 is the de facto gene editing system;
- summarise Cas enzymes and their potential use;
- describe the CRISPR therapeutics landscape; and
- reflect on the key challenges facing CRISPR’s use in the clinic and its future outlook.
Who is the LinkAGE expert webinar series aimed at?
This webinar series is aimed at researchers, clinicians and other healthcare professionals who already have a strong understanding of fundamental genomics concepts. If you are just starting your learning journey, or need a quick refresher, we encourage you to check out our genetics and genomics learning centre.
Meet the speaker
James Patterson, MB/PhD, currently works in Cambridge, UK on his start-up Xap Therapeutics. James studied medicine at Cambridge, where he spent most summers working on a diverse set of projects, from worms to cancer stem cells. He graduated with a degree in medicine/biochemistry before moving to the Francis Crick Institute to complete his MB/PhD on fission yeast cell size control with the Nobel prize winner Sir Paul Nurse. Separate to his academic work, James developed and built an IP focused biotech company – Auxolytic – which demonstrated proof of concept of a CRISPR-engineered cell therapy safety switch. In 2018, James founded Xap Therapeutics, a biotech company developing a CRISPR engineered, iPSC-derived delivery vehicle for complex therapeutics.
How to access the webinar
This webinar can be accessed online via YouTube.
