Paula Cannon

Paula Cannon, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Southern California and the current president of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. Dr. Cannon uses gene editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 to engineer immune cells, with the goal of developing treatments for HIV, cancer and other chronic diseases. Most recently, her group has shown that B cells can be engineered to express fully custom molecules, while retaining the ability to respond to immunization with a matched antigen. This could create boostable B cell factories in the body for the long-term secretion of a range of therapeutic molecules, including antibodies that are not easily generated by vaccination.