Our translational research program includes many projects in the fields of genetic therapies and personalized medicine. Our group was the first to use a recombinant virus as a vehicle for in vivo gene therapy and we have carried out human trials of gene therapy for cystic fibrosis, cardiac ischemia, cancer and central nervous system disorders. Among the current projects are gene transfer strategies for cancer, inherited CNS disorders, a1-antitrypsin deficiency, anti-bioterrorism applications and development of vaccines. Our current projects utilize microarray technologies for genome-wide characterization of gene expression, single nucleotide polymorphism and copy number variation profiles on clinical samples as the basis for projects aimed at identifying candidate genes associated with complex diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The overall research program of the group includes close collaborations with other laboratories at Weill Cornell and elsewhere, including Malcolm Moore's group at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for stem cell projects. Of particular note are our collaborations on personalized medicine projects with colleagues at Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar and Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar and collaborations on Bioinformatics and Biostatistical Genetics with several laboratories at Cornell-Ithaca, including Andy Clark and Jason Mezey.
