Cell & Tissue Science

Gene Therapy

Gene therapy is designed to introduce genetic material into cells to compensate for abnormal genes and to form a beneficial protein. If a mutated gene causes a necessary protein to be faulty or missing or misfunctioned, gene therapy could also be introduced with a normal copy of the gene to restore the function of the protein. Researchers usually do that employing a virus to hold the genetic cargo into cells, as a result of that’s what viruses evolved to do with their own genetic material. In the future, this technique could permit doctors to treat a disorder by inserting a gene into a patient’s cells rather than using medicine or surgery.