Vandenberghe Lab at Grousbeck Gene Therapy Center
About the Lab
Broadening Therapeutic Gene Transfer Through Mechanistic Studies, Technology Development, and Translation to the Clinic
Gene therapy is a conceptually naïve approach that has proven difficult in execution. It is the bringing together of a molecular intervention to a disease target by the delivery of a gene. Over 40 years in the making, clinical studies over the past years have illustrated the transformative potential of gene therapy in inherited blindness, hemophilia, and motor neuron disease.
Research in the Vandenberghe laboratory is focused on broadening applications of gene therapy generally. Research is centered on three overlapping areas of focus: Mechanism, Technology, and Translation.
Our Research
Publications
- Ilyinskii, PO, Michaud, AM, Rizzo, GL, Roy, CJ, Leung, SS, Elkins, SL et al.. ImmTOR nanoparticles enhance AAV transgene expression after initial and repeat dosing in a mouse model of methylmalonic acidemia. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2021;22 :279-292. doi: 10.1016/j.omtm.2021.06.015. PubMed PMID:34485611 PubMed Central PMC8399083.
- Zabaleta, N, Dai, W, Bhatt, U, Hérate, C, Maisonnasse, P, Chichester, JA et al.. An AAV-based, room-temperature-stable, single-dose COVID-19 vaccine provides durable immunogenicity and protection in non-human primates. Cell Host Microbe. 2021;29 (9):1437-1453.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.08.002. PubMed PMID:34428428 PubMed Central PMC8346325.
- Annabi, N, Baker, M, Boettiger, A, Chakraborty, D, Chen, Y, Corbett, KS et al.. Voices of biotech research. Nat Biotechnol. 2021;39 (3):281-286. doi: 10.1038/s41587-021-00847-1. PubMed PMID:33692517 .
- Zabaleta, N, Dai, W, Bhatt, U, Chichester, JA, Sanmiguel, J, Estelien, R et al.. Immunogenicity of an AAV-based, room-temperature stable, single dose COVID-19 vaccine in mice and non-human primates. bioRxiv. 2021; :. doi: 10.1101/2021.01.05.422952. PubMed PMID:33442684 PubMed Central PMC7805441.
- Jacob, A, Brun, L, Jiménez Gil, P, Ménard, L, Bouzelha, M, Broucque, F et al.. Homologous Recombination Offers Advantages over Transposition-Based Systems to Generate Recombinant Baculovirus for Adeno-Associated Viral Vector Production. Biotechnol J. 2021;16 (1):e2000014. doi: 10.1002/biot.202000014. PubMed PMID:33067902 .
- Greenwald, SH, Brown, EE, Scandura, MJ, Hennessey, E, Farmer, R, Pawlyk, BS et al.. Gene Therapy Preserves Retinal Structure and Function in a Mouse Model of NMNAT1-Associated Retinal Degeneration. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2020;18 :582-594. doi: 10.1016/j.omtm.2020.07.003. PubMed PMID:32775493 PubMed Central PMC7397406.
- Hu, CJ, Lu, YC, Tsai, YH, Cheng, HY, Takeda, H, Huang, CY et al.. Efficient in Utero Gene Transfer to the Mammalian Inner Ears by the Synthetic Adeno-Associated Viral Vector Anc80L65. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2020;18 :493-500. doi: 10.1016/j.omtm.2020.06.019. PubMed PMID:32775487 PubMed Central PMC7390729.
- Omichi, R, Yoshimura, H, Shibata, SB, Vandenberghe, LH, Smith, RJH. Hair Cell Transduction Efficiency of Single- and Dual-AAV Serotypes in Adult Murine Cochleae. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2020;17 :1167-1177. doi: 10.1016/j.omtm.2020.05.007. PubMed PMID:32518805 PubMed Central PMC7270144.
- Vandenberghe, LH. COVID-19: Gene Transfer to the Rescue?. Hum Gene Ther. 2020;31 (11-12):605-607. doi: 10.1089/hum.2020.29125.lhv. PubMed PMID:32469280 .
- Schmit, PF, Pacouret, S, Zinn, E, Telford, E, Nicolaou, F, Broucque, F et al.. Cross-Packaging and Capsid Mosaic Formation in Multiplexed AAV Libraries. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2020;17 :107-121. doi: 10.1016/j.omtm.2019.11.014. PubMed PMID:31909084 PubMed Central PMC6938944.
- Dudek, AM, Zabaleta, N, Zinn, E, Pillay, S, Zengel, J, Porter, C et al.. GPR108 Is a Highly Conserved AAV Entry Factor. Mol Ther. 2020;28 (2):367-381. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2019.11.005. PubMed PMID:31784416 PubMed Central PMC7000996.
- Subramanian, S, Maurer, AC, Bator, CM, Makhov, AM, Conway, JF, Turner, KB et al.. Filling Adeno-Associated Virus Capsids: Estimating Success by Cryo-Electron Microscopy. Hum Gene Ther. 2019;30 (12):1449-1460. doi: 10.1089/hum.2019.041. PubMed PMID:31530236 PubMed Central PMC6921155.
- Goldstein, JM, Tabebordbar, M, Zhu, K, Wang, LD, Messemer, KA, Peacker, B et al.. In Situ Modification of Tissue Stem and Progenitor Cell Genomes. Cell Rep. 2019;27 (4):1254-1264.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.03.105. PubMed PMID:31018138 PubMed Central PMC6858480.
- Vandenberghe, LH. AAV Engineering Identifies a Species Barrier That Highlights a Portal to the Brain. Mol Ther. 2019;27 (5):901-903. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2019.04.006. PubMed PMID:31000409 PubMed Central PMC6520466.
- Hudry, E, Vandenberghe, LH. Therapeutic AAV Gene Transfer to the Nervous System: A Clinical Reality. Neuron. 2019;102 (1):263. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.03.020. PubMed PMID:30946822 .
- Hudry, E, Vandenberghe, LH. Therapeutic AAV Gene Transfer to the Nervous System: A Clinical Reality. Neuron. 2019;101 (5):839-862. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.02.017. PubMed PMID:30844402 .
- Sanmiguel, J, Gao, G, Vandenberghe, LH. Quantitative and Digital Droplet-Based AAV Genome Titration. Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1950 :51-83. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9139-6_4. PubMed PMID:30783968 PubMed Central PMC7377043.
- Maurer, AC, Cepeda Diaz, AK, Vandenberghe, LH. Residues on Adeno-associated Virus Capsid Lumen Dictate Interactions and Compatibility with the Assembly-Activating Protein. J Virol. 2019;93 (7):. doi: 10.1128/JVI.02013-18. PubMed PMID:30651367 PubMed Central PMC6430561.
- Manoli, I, Sysol, JR, Epping, MW, Li, L, Wang, C, Sloan, JL et al.. FGF21 underlies a hormetic response to metabolic stress in methylmalonic acidemia. JCI Insight. 2018;3 (23):. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.124351. PubMed PMID:30518688 PubMed Central PMC6328030.
- Shen, J, Xiao, R, Bair, J, Wang, F, Vandenberghe, LH, Dartt, D et al.. Novel engineered, membrane-localized variants of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protect retinal ganglion cells: a proof-of-concept study. Cell Death Dis. 2018;9 (10):1018. doi: 10.1038/s41419-018-1049-0. PubMed PMID:30282966 PubMed Central PMC6170416.
Vandenberghe Lab Team
Luk H. Vandenberghe, PhD
Director
Eric Zinn, BA
Systems Biology Graduate Student
Weiwei Wang, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Michael Florea
PhD Candidate
Julio Sanmiguel
Senior Research Technologist
Reynette Estelien
Research Technologist
Cheikh Diop
Research Technologist
Urja Bhatt
Research Technologist
Nerea Zabaleta Lasarte PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Aisling Ryan
Operations Manager
Maya Kim
Research Assistant
Anil Chekuri, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Jackson W. Lau
Lab Manager
Grousbeck Gene Therapy Center Alumni
2019
Boqiao Song, Undergraduate Co-op student (2019), currently at Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Rakesh Gurrala, Research Assistant II (2018-2019), currently at Tulane University School of Medicine
Carmen Unzu, Senior Scientific Associate & Associate Director of Translational Studies (2017-2019), currently Principal Scientist at Apic Bio, Cambridge, MA
Jennifer Santos-Franceschini, Research Assistant II (2016-2019), currently at Akouos, Boston, MA
Ana Karla Cepeda Diaz, Undergraduate Student Research Assistant at Harvard University (2016-2019), currently graduate student at Harvard Medical School
Anna Maurer, Harvard Medical School Graduate Student (2015-2018), currently Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley
2018
Amanda Dudek, Harvard Medical School Graduate Student (2015-2018), currently Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Simran Tanna, Undergraduate Co-op student (2018), currently at Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Shibangi Saha, Undergraduate Co-op student (2018), currently at Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Wajd Alsharif, Undergraduate Co-op student (2018), currently at Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Eva Andres-Mateos, PhD, Associate Director of Project Management (2014-2018), currently Associate Director of Translational Sciences at Akouos, Boston, MA
Fotini Nicolaou, Research Specialist (2017-2018), currently at Eikonizo Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA
Alex Mellott, Summer High School Intern (2018), currently at Westwood High School
Henry Ren, Undergraduate Co-op student (2018), currently at Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Dante Del Priore, Undergraduate Co-op student (2018), currently at Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Jessica Blake, Research Assistant (2016-2018), currently a Research Biologist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, San Diego, CA
Sarah Wassmer, Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2018), currently Venture Associate II at Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM), Ottawa, Canada
2017
Lizzie Telford, Undergraduate Summer Intern (2017), currently at Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
Simon Pacouret, Graduate Student (2014-2017), currently at Université de Nantes, Nantes, France
2016
Li Wang, MD, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2016), currently at Eye & ENT Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Key Laboratory of Myopia of State Health Ministry and Key Laboratory of Visual Impairment and Restoration of Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Rajani Shelke, Scientific Associate (2012-2016), currently a Scientist at MassBiologics, Fall River, MA
Heikki Turunen, Postdoctoral Fellow (2012-2016), currently a Research Scientist at Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation
Suzanne De Bruijn, Visiting Research Scholar (2016), currently a Ph.D. student at Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Positions
We are always interested in talented and passionate researchers who work well in a team and compelled by gene therapy and virology. See below to learn more about our open positions and how to apply.
Graduate Student Positions
Postdoctoral Positions
Scientific Staff Positions