ISMCBBPR announces the

Molecule of the Year 2009

as

Sleeping Beauty Transposase SB 100X


Seminal Work

Molecular evolution of a novel hyperactive Sleeping Beauty transposase enables robust stable gene transfer in vertebrates.

Authors

Mátés L, Chuah MK, Belay E, Jerchow B, Manoj N, Acosta-Sanchez A, Grzela DP, Schmitt A, Becker K, Matrai J, Ma L, Samara-Kuko E, Gysemans C, Pryputniewicz D, Miskey C, Fletcher B, Vandendriessche T, Ivics Z, Izsvák Z.


From left to right: Abel Acosta-Sanchez, Prof. Dr. Marinee K.L. Chuah (groupleader - principal investigator), Prof. Dr. Thierry VandenDriessche (groupleader - principal investigator), Eyayu Belay, Dr. Janka Matrai, Ermira Samara-Kuko

Information about the 15 nominees can be found here

Official Press Releases for the Molecule of the Year 2009: In English ; In German ; In Dutch;  In English


 The picture was taken at the MDC campus in Berlin and shows members (postdocs, PhD students and technicians) of the research group "Mobile DNA". The key persons for SB100X are the 6th from left Lajos Mates, 7th from left Zoltan Ivics and the 8th from left Zsuzsanna Izsvak.

What the voters had to say about this molecule

Sleeping Beauty Transposase gets top marks for thorough bio-engineering as well as for impact given its likely broad utility in gene therapy. This molecule holds great promise for gene therapy as it addresses a major hurdle in gene therapeutic applications, especially those revealed by viral transduction approaches- site specific integration.

The synthetic transposon, “Sleeping Beauty” and the corresponding hyperactive transposase SB100X  bring  about a revolutionary technology platform for genetic engineering in vertebrates. SB100X is a hyperactive transposase which can stably transfer genes even to stem or progenitor cells. These are safer than viral vectors and therefore could be important in cell-based therapies. Compared to all the other nominated molecules in 2009 [for molecule of the year], Sleeping Beauty Transposase has the potential for greater therapeutic impact on human conditions and diseases.

Press articles about the impact of this work

From the authoring center (auf den ursprünglichen Deutsch)
A review of some of the challenges involved in stable gene transfer in stem cell research, including a history of Sleeping Beauty
A review on the use of non-viral induction of pluripotent stem cells or for gene therapy
A comment on the application and efficacy of the new construct of Sleeping Beauty Transposase.

Further reading

An editorial in the journal Human Gene Therapy
A brief breakdown (and an even shorter version) of the work as it relates to gene therapy (In het Nederlands)
Virtually the same article
A short popular press article
An article (Em português)

Excellent choice!  Happy New Year

        -Dr. Wayne W. Grody, Advisor, ISMCBBPR

 

 

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