Paula Cannon

CBER Roundtable on Cell and Gene Therapy The Roundtable will provide you with an opportunity to share your thoughts on advancing the field of cell and gene therapy.

I’m taking part in this live-streamed FDA roundtable June 5, hosted by CBER Director Prasad, on cell and gene therapy. Let’s keep the progress going!

Baby Is Healed With World’s First Personalized Gene-Editing Treatment

This amazing work was just presented at the annual ASGCT meeting in New Orleans. Phenomenal!

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/h...

RFK Jr., onetime environmentalist, kills NIH climate change programs He pulled HHS support from projects that aim to protect Americans' health.

NIH is cancelling its climate and health initiatives.

We haven't received word yet of whether they'll rescind our grants, but . . .

BTW these are programs to build climate resilience so people die less.

That's it. That's the whole goal. We just want people to die less.

Renowned Virologist John Zaia, M.D., Dies

Devastated to see this news. John drove a lot of innovation in cell and gene therapy, but was also a very decent man and a friend.

www.cityofhope.org/renowned-vir...

YES. Need to say this loudly and often! This 2.46x is also the short-term ROI. Long-term ROI (more difficult to estimate) may ~10x. Highest for any gov't spending. And the source of discoveries necessary for all new drugs (industry important too but without NIH funded science there's no foundation)

Trump hits NIH with ‘devastating’ freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring Researchers facing

www.science.org/content/arti...

Ask a Caltech Expert: Paul Wennberg on Environmental Hazards of Smoke Paul Wennberg discusses the air quality following the 2025 California fires and how to clean homes downwind of the fires.

scienceexchange.caltech.edu/topics/susta...

The Fires: Air Quality, Public Health & What to Do Next THE FIRES: AIR QUALITY, PUBLIC HEALTH AND WHAT TO DO NEXT January 15, 2025 Coalition for Clean Air Website: ccair.org Webinar Recording Screenshots of slides MEETING DESCRIPTION The Coalition for ...

Great information about air quality, and how to protect yourself after the LA fires. The document has links to a webinar, slides, and a summary of key points.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Closure of northern Minnesota camp is ‘the greatest story.’ Here’s why. Willow River, Minn., camp One Heartland is for sale after serving kids there for nearly three decades.

Quite a silver lining!
www.startribune.com/closure-of-n...

A Woman With a Rare Gene Mutation Fights to Avoid Her Mother’s Fate A mutant gene is coming to steal Linde Jacobs’s mind. Can she find a way to stop it?

Inspirational story, and hope from gene editing

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/22/h...

Kennedy’s Lawyer Has Asked the F.D.A. to Revoke Approval of the Polio Vaccine Aaron Siri, who specializes in vaccine lawsuits, has been at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s side reviewing candidates for top jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services.

The lawyer helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pick federal health officials for the incoming Trump administration has petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine, which for decades has protected millions of people from a virus that can cause paralysis or death.

UnitedHealth Is Strategically Limiting Access to Critical Treatment for Kids With Autism Leaked internal documents show that the insurance giant is culling providers of applied behavior analysis from its network and scrutinizing the medical necessity of therapy. Advocates say the company’...

Propublica reports this morning on how United Healthcare is strangling the gold standard therapy for children with autism—deliberately shrinking its provider network and authorizing fewer hours than the treatment demands. www.propublica.org/article/unit...

Gene behind orange fur in cats found at last After 60 years, scientists know why gingers, calicos, and tortoiseshells look the way they do

Ginger cats are different than ginger humans! In humans, red hair is caused by the Mcr1 gene, but in cats its the Arhgap36 gene on the X chromosome. This explains why ginger cats are usually male, and X inactivation produces female calico and tortoiseshell cats.

www.science.org/content/arti...?

Recommendation for timing updated Covid vaccine based on if you were recently infected.
Helpful graphic from YLE, sourced from Townsend et al., Optimal Annual COVID-19 Vaccine Boosting Dates Following Previous Booster Vaccination or Breakthrough Infection, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2024.

I’m six months out from my last bout of Covid, and will soon travel for the holidays, so this week was good timing for me to get the updated Covid shot. This one gave me significant side effects (but nothing Tylenol couldn’t handle). Kinda thrilled to know my immune system got so excited by it!

Our fantastic awardees. So much hope for future therapies!

Why hasn’t the bird flu pandemic started? Some scientists examining mutations found in H5N1 viruses fear major outbreak is imminent but others say pathogen remains unpredictable

Ugh, clock is ticking

www.science.org/content/arti...

Agriculture Department to Require Testing of U.S. Milk Supply for Bird Flu Virus The new rules call for testing unpasteurized milk from dairies across the country and for farm owners to provide details that would help officials identify and track cases more easily.

Meanwhile, I’m deciding I don’t totally hate the taste of ultra pasteurized milk.

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/h...

Wuhan lab samples hold no close relatives to virus behind COVID Shi Zhengli, the virologist at centre of COVID lab-leak theory, reveals coronavirus sequences from Wuhan institute.

I’m not sure this lack of a smoking gun is going to convince everyone. I also wish the data had come out much earlier.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Submit an abstract for presentation at the 28th Annual Meeting through Jan. 31!

Did you know that your high-impact #genetherapy + #celltherapy research could win you an award?

When you submit an abstract for #ASGCT2025, you may be eligible for a monetary award or a presentation opportunity. Send us your work through Jan. 31! bit.ly/3Oqtw0u

Seems kinda life-changing. And better than calling the local one “Disney-um”

Two HIV Unicorns - Paul and Marc, on my right - men who had HIV but have been cured.

Palm Springs Art Museum to honor World Aids Day with Symposium The Palm Springs Art Museum is hosting a symposium and an art gallery to mark World Aids Day. The event is taking place at the Palm Springs Art Museum in partnership with HIV+ Aging Research Project o...

World AIDS Day 2024, Palm Springs Art Museum

kesq.com/news/top-sto...

Talking about HIV Cure at the 3rd annual Timothy Ray Brown Symposium, Palm Springs, on World AIDS Day.

Long COVID appears to be driven by ‘long infection’. Here’s what the science says Much, if not all, long COVID appears to be driven by the virus persisting in the body. Formal proof remains elusive but here’s what the science shows.

theconversation.com/long-covid-a...

Opinion | I Ran Operation Warp Speed. I’m Concerned About Bird Flu. (Gift Article) Avian influenza might mutate to enable human-to-human transmission.

Yes, I’m worried as well.
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/26/o...

Unwanted viral guests at Thanksgiving Your State of Affairs going into the holiday

Respiratory infection? Great update from YLE on what’s circulating right now. (Spoiler - its the common cold, not Covid. Phew!)

open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...

If this is right, an H5N1 pandemic could be the obverse of covid-19, with more young people dying than older ones 🧪

Let's not find out

Bird flu virus detected in California raw milk An independent Stanford research detected bird flu virus in a retail sample of Fresno-based Raw Farm milk.

As expected. But pasteurization kills it.

www.latimes.com/environment/...

New shingles vaccine could reduce risk of dementia | University of The new recombinant shingles vaccine ‘Shingrix’ is associated with a reduced risk of dementia compared to an earlier shingles vaccine, according to a major new study published in Nature Medicine. It

More inspiration 🙏 Shingles vaccine (Shingrix) associated with 23-27% lower risk of dementia compared to controls receiving other vaccines.

www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-07...