Gene Therapy chooses rare disease expert as its new Editor-in-Chief

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Royal Holloway's Dr Rafael J. Yáñez-Muñoz has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the journal Gene Therapy, a key title for the exploration of new genetic and stem cell therapy techniques, so-called Advanced Therapies. It is published by Springer Nature.

Reader at Royal Holloway’s Advanced Gene and Cell Therapy laboratory (AGCTlab), Dr Yáñez is expert in the areas of genome editing, gene medicine and stem cells for understanding and progressing treatment of neurodegenerative and inherited diseases, including spinal muscular atrophy, spinal injury, Parkinson disease and immunodeficiencies.

Dr Yáñez is a leading authority on rare diseases, which affect over 3million people in the UK. He also leads Royal Holloway’s outreach for Rare Disease Day, a global annual event to highlight the challenges faced by those living with such diseases. Rare Disease Day also provides opportunity to celebrate collaborative research and rally support for study that provides advancement in the area. Dr Yáñez will write a special editorial for the journal on the topic for its February edition, to be published on February 23^rd 2017.

Speaking of his appointment, Dr Yáñez commented, “This is a great opportunity to shape, evaluate and experience the very best research in the area of advanced therapies. This relatively new area of exploration can offer hope to those suffering from common and inherited disorders, developing solutions, support and cures for often intractable diseases.”

As part of his role Dr Yáñez will edit a special issue on the recent approval of Spinraza by the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration). This is a drug that provides a treatment for Spinal muscular atrophy, the most common genetic cause of death in infants and one of Dr Yáñez’s research interests. This edition will be published on April 20^th 2017.