The second of three meetings in James M. Wilson's preceptorial on human gene therapy was held last night at the Wistar Institute.
Students were brought into a laboratory, separated into groups and given demonstrations by researchers under Wilson on various procedures, according to those in attendance.
Members of the class were shown how viruses are used to deliver gene therapy, how electron microscopes are used, how a DNA strand is created and how researchers see where the strand ends up once injected, among other topics.
The first meeting of the preceptorial took place last week amid some controversy. Efforts were made by Wilson and the preceptorial committee to prevent The Daily Pennsylvanian from obtaining information about the class. Its location was kept a secret until class time and students were asked not to comment to reporters.
"They wanted to show us the practical side of gene therapy," College junior Andrew Lee said of last night's meeting. "Everyone presented their material very clearly and very concisely. We were able to learn a lot of material in a short period of time."
Other students in the class said they enjoyed last night's session.
"I thought it was cool that we got to go to all the different areas of the lab and see how it works," said one student, who asked to remain anonymous. "It was interesting."
The student added that Wilson, the head of Penn's Institute for Human Gene Therapy, did not speak much at last night's meeting.
Wilson, once considered the premier researcher in the field of gene therapy, gained nationwide media attention and criticism in 1999 when Jesse Gelsinger, an 18-year-old involved in a study Wilson was heading, died unexpectedly.
The Food and Drug Administration is currently deciding whether Wilson should be permitted to perform clinical studies in the future based on charges that he "failed to adequately protect the safety and welfare of subjects" and that he "submitted misleading and inaccurate statements" to both Penn's internal review board and federal regulators overseeing the trial.
The agency also alleges that Gelsinger was enrolled in the study despite medical test results indicating his ineligibility.
