2008 Winners of the Young Investigator Awards

Antonia Follenzi, MD, PhD

Antonia is an outstanding European physician-scientist, has already made major contributions in our field. She has done outstanding work on the biology of lentiviral vectors and use of lentiviral vectors to address important biological questions and more recently conducted landmark research on the pathophysiology and treatment of haemophilia A providing the very first successful example of cell therapy directed toward an endothelial compartment.

Eugenio Montini PhD

Eugenio has made major contributions to the field of gene vector biosafety studies. His work has triggered a wave of related studies to address the role of vector design in insertional transformation of hematopoietic cells. His recent work demonstrates that transcriptionally active LTRs are crucial determinants of genotoxicity. However, the pattern of integration site selection and the position of enhancer/promoter elements within the vector modulate vector genotoxicity to a previously unappreciated extent.

Els Verhoeyen PhD

Early in her career Dr. Verhoeyen worked on the question of how to best effect gene entry in human T lymphocytes, with the goal of modifying their function and demonstrated the possibility of using envelope-modified retroviruses to specifically activate T cells and achieve gene transfer. Most recently Dr Verhoeyen has worked on the improvement of gene transfer technology for haematopoietic stem cells and is developing a new anti-HIV therapy based on a membrane-anchored peptide that inhibits HIV entry. She has also established a humanized SCID mouse model in Lyon in order to evaluate gene therapies and haematopoiesis in human progenitor cells.

Simon Waddington PhD

Dr Waddington is a pioneer in the development of in utero and neonatal approaches to gene therapy. His work has demonstrated the potential utility of delivering a range of viral gene therapy vectors (adeno, AAV, retrovirus/lentivirus) for the treatment of conditions such as haemophilia, cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. Simon is also a leader in engaging/educating the general public in gene therapy, which is further acknowledged by his current position as holder of a Philip Gray Fellowship from the Katharine Dormandy Trust, a charity dedicated to the development of gene therapy for haemophilia.