U. institute welcomes gene expert

The University will soon become home to the world's first and only human gene therapy institute, and nationally renowned gene therapy researcher James Wilson cannot wait to move in. "I've been interested in this technology ever since I was a graduate student, although it wasn't popular until a year or two ago," said Wilson, who was recruited from the University of Michigan to head the newly formed Institute for Human Gene Therapy. Gene therapy research has become so popular in the last couple of years that medical center officials are betting that it will "revolutionize medicine as we know it today," he said. "Those of us over here in research at the medical center think that human gene therapy is going to be the most important area in biomedical research in the next 10 to 15 years," said Arthur Asbury, the Medical School's vice dean for research. "This is comparable to the discovery of bacteria or the discovery of antibiotics." According to a statement from Medical School Dean William Kelley, the type of genetic research planned for the institute will be "critical to the work of finding cures for diseases ranging from AIDS to cystic fibrosis, and from cancer and cardiovascular diseases to Rheumatoid arthritis." Wilson leads one of three teams nationwide authorized to conduct experiments in gene therapy on humans. As director of the Medical Center's institute, he will be responsible for stimulating and coordinating multidisciplinary efforts which will involve researchers and clinicians across a broad range of fields. "It's a cross-discipline program," Wilson said. "What I'm going to try to accomplish is collaboration within the various schools, and departments within the schools, to bring together programs in gene therapy." Asbury said gene therapy is made possible by "the revolution in recombinant biology" that has occurred over the last 10 or 12 years. "We are able to alter the course of otherwise untreatable diseases by the replacing of defective genes," Asbury said. Wilson is best known for his work which utilized gene replacement therapy to cure human cystic fibrosis cells in a laboratory culture. Last December, the National Institutes of Health advisory committee approved the experiment for 12 patients. Wilson said yesterday he is "absolutely" excited about making the move to the University. "The opportunity to start something like this, which is the first of its kind, is very exciting to me," he said.

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