Frank Park, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Medicine (Nephrology), Pediatrics
Education: McGill University, Montreal, QC, B.S.,Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, Ph.D.,Stanford University, Stanford, CA, Post-doc
Contact: fpark@mcw.edu
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My lab focuses on the development of lentiviral vectors to genetically modify cells in the kidney and the systemic vasculature. Viruses have evolved over millions of years to efficiently enter and modify mammalian cells. Gene therapy labs, including our own, have taken advantage of these viruses and rendered them replication-incompetent in order to utilize them for therapeutic applications. In recent years, our lab has found that altering the envelope coat protein of the lentiviral vector can lead to a significant enhancement of the transduction efficiencies into endothelial and smooth muscle cells in the vasculature as well as the epithelial cells within the kidney. We will continue to uncover other viral characteristics that will allow us to use viral vectors as a platform for future gene therapy for the treatment of cardiovascular and renal disease.
Photographs: (Left) Research Technologist, Guanfu Jia. (Right) Guangfu Jia and graduate student, Talha Akbulut.