Cancer researcher receives $100,000 award to study gene therapies

Paul S. Weiss, PhD
1 min read

Paul Weiss and the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital have been awarded a $100,000 St. Baldrick’s Foundation pediatric cancer research grant.

Weiss, UC presidential chair and distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry, materials science and engineering, is developing technologies that power cellular immunotherapies to treat various pediatric cancers. He and his team recently published research detailing the fabrication of nanostructures that could make gene therapies safer, faster and more affordable.

“We’re so grateful to have the support of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation in bringing new cancer gene therapies to patients,” said Weiss, who is a member of the California NanoSystems Institute and the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We are building new, safer ways to teach your own cells how to fight cancer.”

Weiss, who is part of the UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, and UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital received one of 76 grants in the St. Baldrick’s Foundation’s largest round of funding. As the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation provides grants to support researchers developing new approaches and therapies to treating such cancers.