Dr. William Gelbart’s laboratory in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry focuses on understanding how viruses “work” from a physical science point-of-view and how to use reconstituted non-infections forms of them for biotechnology and translational medicine purposes. Previously, Dr. Gelbart’s lab has developed virus-like-particles that deliver a self-amplifying RNA gene for targeted delivery of vaccines and other therapeutic proteins.
Dr. Gelbart’s virus-like-particle delivery platform of self-amplifying RNA genes could be used in several approaches to treat and prevent coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2. For treatment of a coronavirus infection, the platform could delivery therapeutic proteins and peptides in the form of RNA. The platform could also deliver a self-amplifying RNAi s to silence the production of a specific gene of interest. Additionally, the virus-like-particle delivery platform could be used to deliver a vaccine against a coronavirus.
Link to Faculty website: https://virus.chem.ucla.edu/
Relevant technology: 2019-260, 2014-111