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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Happy Tech Tuesday. I’m Melanie Morón with UF Innovate, and today we’re diving into the world of gene therapy. And joining me is Dr. Arun Srivastava with the University of Florida Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Arun, thank you so much for having us here in your lab.

It’s my pleasure. Thank you. Nice to meet you, Melanie.

So talk to us about your research.

Yeah, so we’ve been working on this very innocuous virus called AAV or adeno-associated virus. And all of a sudden there’s been a lot of interest in this virus because it has now cured nine human diseases. There are five FDA-approved drugs and we are trying to make these vectors more efficient.

So what goes on here in your lab?

So we have a number of investigators, senior investigators like Dr. Ching, who actually oversees the entire operation. We have graduate student, we have undergrad student, we have postdoctoral fellows, and all of us work together. Again, our ultimate goal is to make the vector more efficient. And we also work with investigators not only on this campus, but also from other academic institutions. And because of tremendous interest in this virus, in this vector, we are also working with a number of biotech companies, both small and large. So again, the ultimate goal is to come up with new vectors for gene therapy for other human diseases.

Why is the University of Florida the hub for AAV?

Excellent question, Melanie. So University of Florida is the birthplace of AAV vectors. This is where the first recombinant vector was created. This is where the first human disease was cured, and this is where many more diseases are going to be cured. So this certainly is the center of the AAV universe.

Well, Dr. Arun, thanks again for joining us and talking to us about your awesome research.

Well, thank you very much, Melanie. It was pleasure to talk to you and I’m very excited about the research that we and our colleagues are doing, and we look forward to a much better future.

And that’s another Great Tech Tuesday. We hope to see you next week.

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