Posted 25 July 2022
SVI’s Dr Astrid Glaser has been awarded the Inaugural Captain Courageous Fellowship, for research focused on developing a new treatment path for the genetic condition, Fanconi Anaemia.
Causing bone marrow failure, skeletal abnormalities and an increased risk of cancer, Fanconi Anaemia can only be treated through bone marrow transplantation, which carries a high risk of complications.
Astrid’s goal is to develop ways to ‘edit’ the errors in a person’s DNA that drive disease, as an ultimate cure for inherited conditions. Her current focus is gene editing techniques that aim to repair the underlying changes in a person’s DNA causing Fanconi Anaemia, an inherited Bone Marrow Failure Syndrome.
“Gene therapy holds the potential to rescue bone marrow failure without the dangerous complications associated with a transplant from a donor,” Dr Glaser explains. “My hope for this research is that we will be able to expand our work to other inherited Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes, laying the foundation for a clinical trial to improve the lives of Australian patients and their families.”
Astrid’s Fellowship is supported by Captain Courageous Foundation and Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision.