About Gene Therapy
I am Andrew and I am currently a human biology student at University of California, San Diego. I created this website for the purposes of educating fellow college students about the basics of gene therapy and some of the specific research I have contributed to. More specifically, this site is designed to help college students who are looking into careers or graduate schools in biotechnology. Knowledge about the direction of the field will prove priceless as students look to equip themselves for further education or the job market. Because gene therapy holds such weight for future medical treatments, almost every biotechnology company and university biology department is doing research related to it. To be well versed and specialized in gene therapy is a great asset for students graduating from college and looking for their next step in the biotech field. Through research and experience in the field, students can strengthen their resumes for future jobs and applications for graduate school.
As someone who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had already been exposed to basic concepts of gene therapy in high school. The region, much like San Diego, is packed with biotech companies looking to recruit students into STEM research. However, when I first entered UCSD, I was studying economics. After studying it for a quarter, I realized that it was not very appealing to me and I switched my major to human biology. It was a subject that had fascinated me in high school, so I decided to try it out in college and ended up loving it. As I started to look into job and internship opportunities, I discovered that San Diego is a biotech hub with both large and small biotech companies flourishing here. In the summer of 2012, I had the opportunity to intern at a small biotech services company in the SF Bay Area. It was here that I worked on gene therapy firsthand and realized its potential. The specific research I worked on is here, but my research broadened my perspectives towards the uses of gene therapy. Originally, I thought it could only be used to target diseases that are controlled by a single gene. However, through my research, I learned that the use of viruses as a delivery method allows gene therapy to target specific cells within the human body. This opened the door for the use of gene therapy to treat diseases controlled by multiple genes, such as cancer. As a result, my interest in gene therapy was piqued because gene therapy could be used to treat any disease with a genetic basis. After taking various molecular biology courses, I continued to look into gene therapy resources on the web. I soon realized that there were tons of resources, many of which were unreliable or too technical. Because gene therapy has been around for several decades and holds great implications for future use, there are always new articles and papers being published about it. Unfortunately, many of these articles may be inaccurate and could even spread false claims regarding gene therapy.
Many cultural influences, such as television shows and movies, portray incorrect ideas about gene therapy and genetic engineering. Students need to be able to discern between urban myths and accurate scientific knowledge of biotechnology. In the future, as gene therapy becomes more viable, it will be imperative that students know the scientific basis of gene therapy as well as the clinical implications. My hope is that this site will give students a solid foundation for interpreting information about gene therapy, while giving reliable resources to help them learn more.
As someone who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had already been exposed to basic concepts of gene therapy in high school. The region, much like San Diego, is packed with biotech companies looking to recruit students into STEM research. However, when I first entered UCSD, I was studying economics. After studying it for a quarter, I realized that it was not very appealing to me and I switched my major to human biology. It was a subject that had fascinated me in high school, so I decided to try it out in college and ended up loving it. As I started to look into job and internship opportunities, I discovered that San Diego is a biotech hub with both large and small biotech companies flourishing here. In the summer of 2012, I had the opportunity to intern at a small biotech services company in the SF Bay Area. It was here that I worked on gene therapy firsthand and realized its potential. The specific research I worked on is here, but my research broadened my perspectives towards the uses of gene therapy. Originally, I thought it could only be used to target diseases that are controlled by a single gene. However, through my research, I learned that the use of viruses as a delivery method allows gene therapy to target specific cells within the human body. This opened the door for the use of gene therapy to treat diseases controlled by multiple genes, such as cancer. As a result, my interest in gene therapy was piqued because gene therapy could be used to treat any disease with a genetic basis. After taking various molecular biology courses, I continued to look into gene therapy resources on the web. I soon realized that there were tons of resources, many of which were unreliable or too technical. Because gene therapy has been around for several decades and holds great implications for future use, there are always new articles and papers being published about it. Unfortunately, many of these articles may be inaccurate and could even spread false claims regarding gene therapy.
Many cultural influences, such as television shows and movies, portray incorrect ideas about gene therapy and genetic engineering. Students need to be able to discern between urban myths and accurate scientific knowledge of biotechnology. In the future, as gene therapy becomes more viable, it will be imperative that students know the scientific basis of gene therapy as well as the clinical implications. My hope is that this site will give students a solid foundation for interpreting information about gene therapy, while giving reliable resources to help them learn more.