A leader in DNA vaccine research will speak at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 14 as part of the Voices of Discovery science speaker series. Details...
Dr. Margaret Liu, whose pioneering work in the area of DNA vaccines has resulted in a variety of honors, will speak about her field of study at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 14 in McCrary Theatre, located in the Faith Rockefeller Model Center for the Arts.
Liu is vice chairman of Transgene, a biopharmaceutical company based in Strasbourg, France that develops gene therapy products and delivery technologies for the treatment of diseases. She is also a consultant to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Gene Therapy and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS foundation.
Liu works with ultimate vaccines — small bits of the genetic material of a pathogen, purposely modified to be safe while coding for proteins that will enhance an immunological defense against a specific disease-causing organism. These enhanced DNA vaccines can be designed to work in many ways, such as by presenting key antigens to the immune system, enhancing the immune response process or even delivering “suicide” genes to a selected target. These vaccines potentially represent the next revolutionary level of preventions and therapies for diseases such as cancer or infectious conditions such as AIDS.
Liu received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Colorado College and her medical degree from Harvard Medical School.
The speech, which is free and open to the public, is part of the Voices of Discovery Science Speaker Series, sponsored by the departments of Science and Mathematics.