Jennifer Adair, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been named a 2015 Outstanding New Investigator by the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT). The award recognizes Dr. Adair’s independent research efforts to understand and improve blood stem cell–based gene therapies.
Dr. Adair is an Assistant Member of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson, where her laboratory aims to develop gene therapies that can correct faulty DNA sequences responsible for inherited blood disorders, improve treatment for brain cancer, and make cells immune to HIV infection.
“[This recognition] is huge for an early-career investigator in the field. The American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy was the first of its kind and is the largest society in the world for cell and gene therapy,” Dr. Adair said.
At the Outstanding New Investigator Symposium during the ASGCT Annual Meeting on May 14, 2015, Dr. Adair will speak about new technologies her lab developed to understand these cells’ biology, and how her experience in developing new cancer gene therapies has motivated her to develop a portable gene therapy system that lends itself to use even in developing countries without high-tech laboratories.
Dr. Adair earned a PhD in genetics and cell biology in 2005 from Washington State University, where she studied the molecular mechanisms of DNA repair. She joined Fred Hutchinson in 2008. ■
