Each brings a unique perspective to the effort. Talmadge focuses on developing clinical cancer therapies. He is studying how gene therapy can be used to kill breast cancer cells, collaborating with Dr. Roy Baynes at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. They recently got FDA approval for a phase I clinical study. But first, a little background.
Viruses are the smallest, simplest life forms.
They cannot reproduce unless they enter a living cell. They have a natural delivery system that allows their DNA to enter a host's genome, be it plants, bacteria, animals or humans. Disease-causing viruses have an enormous effect on the world, causing, for example, influenza, small pox, AIDS, the common cold and some forms of cancer. The same characteristic that makes them so efficient at spreading disease can be used for good in the form of vectors. A virus' disease-causing genetic material can be removed and replaced with therapeutic genetic material.