With funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and Sangamo Biosciences, City of Hope conducted a clinical trial for patients with HIV/AIDS based on discoveries made by USC researcher Paula Cannon. She pioneered a technique for genetically engineering a patient’s own immune cells to resist HIV infection. Globally, 36.7 million people are living with HIV, and 1.8 million of these are children. An estimated 35 million people have died from HIV-related causes so far.
Scientists at USC Stem Cell are also using gene editing technology to study and develop treatments for diseases ranging from diabetes to cancer.