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PROFESSOR ANDREW H. BAKER
In
The Singularity Is Near : When Humans Transcend
Biology by Ray Kurzweil, Ray said
Gene therapy is starting to
work in human applications. A team led by University of Glasgow research
doctor Andrew H. Baker has successfully used adenoviruses to "infect"
specific organs and even specific regions within organs. For example,
the group was able to direct gene therapy precisely at the endothelial
cells, which line the inside of blood vessels.
Professor Andrew H.
Baker graduated from the
University of London in 1990
with a BSc (Joint Honors) in pharmacology and toxicology and then studied
for his PhD in
molecular medicine
with the
Leukaemia Research Fund, graduating in 1994. He then
joined the group led by Professor Andrew Newby for his post-doctoral work
in
Cardiff and developed adenoviral vectors for overexpression studies
in
the vascular system. Andy then transferred to a lectureship at the
University of Bristol (Bristol Heart Institute) to continue studies on
adenovirus-mediated gene transfer to assess vascular function in
different model systems. In 1999, Andy joined Professor Anna
Dominiczak's group at the
University of Glasgow as a Senior Lecturer
in Molecular Medicine.
He was the editor of the book
Vascular Disease: Molecular Biology and Gene Therapy Protocols
(Methods
in Molecular Medicine) and coeditor of the book
Hypertension: Methods and Protocols (Methods in Molecular
Medicine).
Learn about the articles he published in
1998
- 2000,
2001,
2002,
2003,
2004,
and
2005.
Andy's main focus has been on the development of gene therapy for
treatment
of diverse cardiovascular diseases. This initially included the
generation of replication-defective adenovirus vectors that mediated
overexpression of a variety of genes including TIMPs, inhibitors of
matrix degradation. These vectors were used successfully to inhibit vein
graft neointimal thickening in human and pig models. He is currently
engaged in research to further develop gene therapy aimed at different
aspects of vein graft biology, as well as development of vectors that
mediate sustained gene overexpression in vivo.
Through collaborations these vectors have also shown potential as
candidates for cancer gene therapy. It has become clear that gene
delivery to the vasculature is extremely poor compared to other tissues.
He has therefore developed vectors with improved, and selective, gene
delivery to vascular endothelial cells by development of transcriptional
and tropism modified viral vectors. His collaborations have used the
FLT-1 promoter for
endothelial cell-selective expression and identified small peptides that
can mediate binding to vascular endothelial cells but not to other cell
types. These peptides have been isolated and developed by phage display
technology and have been used to re-target adenoviral vectors. His
collaborations are
also pursuing other vector systems for improved efficacy in
vivo.
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