Gene Therapy in Arthritis

Description of projects available to graduate students:
Our lab has been studying gene delivery to synovium in both in vitro and in vivo models of arthritis. The long-term goal is to develop improved therapy for arthritis by means of gene transfer to the joint. We are identifying novel targets of disease and developing means of blocking disease pathways using gene transfer. We have been studying viral and non-viral vectors and have recently been focusing on AAV vectors, which have unique transduction effects in rheumatoid synoviocytes.

Techniques graduate student will learn:
molecular biology
viral vector construction
ELISA
Flow cytometry
immunohistochemistry
PCR
confocal microscopy
live cell imaging