Amy Keating

I graduated with a first class in Biomedical Sciences with Industrial Placement MSc at the University of Warwick. My MSc project, in collaboration with OXB, involved using lentiviral vector pseudotyping to improve gene delivery to the respiratory system.

I then continued my work at OXB as a research scientist investigating the re-targeting of lentiviral vectors pseudotyped with Nipah virus envelope glycoproteins. We developed and utilised this system to demonstrate that lentiviral vectors could deliver a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) transgene specifically into T cells in humanised mouse models, showing pre-clinical efficacy towards in vivo CAR-T therapy.

I am currently a DPhil Student on the Advanced Bioscience of Viral Products (ABViP) collaborative training programme. My research project focuses on investigating novel approaches to reducing immunogenicity of lentiviral vectors. I have a  particular interest in using gene editing to develop a producer cell line capable of producing ‘stealthy’ lentiviral vectors. This will contribute to wider research into tailoring gene delivery vectors to allow systemic in vivo delivery into human patients, thus allowing improved therapeutic efficacy and increased availability of these therapies. My project is supervised by Dr. Kerry Fisher and Prof. Robert Carlisle.