Prof. John Rossi Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, USA

Prof. John Rossi has a long standing interest in applying RNA-based therapeutics for the treatment of HIV. Dr. Rossi was the first to demonstrate that catalytic RNAs or ribozymes could be used in the treatment of HIV infection. This work has progressed to using small interfering RNAs, or siRNAs in... read morecombination with other anti- HIV based RNAs for the therapeutic treatment of HIV infection in a gene therapy setting. His work has led to what will be the first haematopoietic stem cell gene therapy use of siRNAs in a patient trial in late 2006. Dr. Rossi is the author of over 200 publications and the recipient of a NIH Merit Award for his anti-HIV based RNA studies.