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22 Central MA Life Sciences Report Gao and his team are researching more potent and more powerful gene- silencing techniques, specifically for the nerve disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The team is in the preclinical proof of concept stage. With success thus far in small animals, the goal of Gao's research is to work up to the formal drug development process with a gene-silencing model subduing toxic gene expression, thereby extending lifespan and improving function. The team's research will be scaled up to large animals before it can move forward. With luck, said Gao, average gene therapy treatment development takes up to five years. "A lot of questions remain unknown," he said. To extend further beyond what even a powerhouse like UMass Chan can finance, researcher Jun Xie, associate professor of microbiology and physiological systems is in partnership as principal investigator with Boston and Shanghai-based NeuShen Therapeutics for a three-year contract to sponsor his research. Xie estimates up to eight teams at the medical school are involved with ALS research, but for his team, the sponsored research means the team can work full steam ahead on a more specific, rarer neurological disease. "I had been thinking about this program for a long time but did not have the resources," said Xie. This kind of specialized research has the potential to be applied more broadly and could be an entry point for the broader category of central nervous system disorders. Studying alpacas to help humans Research entities have to justify the value of their presence in Central Massachusetts over Boston or Cambridge, weighing the length of a dollar against the lure of Kendall Square. For Charles Shoemaker, professor in the department of infectious disease and global health at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton, the price per square foot comes up less frequently than the proximity to the animals he studies. Shoemaker's research focuses on developing therapies for both humans and animals to reverse the effects of bacterial toxins using antibodies derived from camels or alpacas. The treatment involves engineering combinations of tiny, simple antibodies to block viruses, neutralize toxins, and fight disease. Shoemaker's lab does not harm the alpacas in the process of their research, he said. Half of the drugs on the market utilize antibody properties, said Shoemaker, but they are expensive. As a result, they are often out of reach in the realm of animal medicine and medicine in the developing world. Shoemaker hopes his research can change that. Shoemaker started his career working in biotechnology before moving into academic research, and he watched 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 170,168 183,656 194,000 206,392 281,659 334,497 Publications on AI Source: Center for Security and Emerging Technology AI Index Report, 2022 Scholarly publications on AI The number of English-language scholarly publications related to the development and application of artificial intelligence has nearly doubled in a decade. Jun Xie, associate professor of microbiology and physiological systems at UMass Chan Continued from page 21 Guangping Gao, co-director of the Li Weibo Institute for Rare Disease Research at UMass Chan Medical School