BME Seminar: Paul Larson
Monday, October 4, 2021, 12:00 pm
Paul Larson
Professor, Neurosurgery at the University of Arizona
Chief, Neurosurgery, Southern Arizona VA Health Care System
Local Training Director, Neurosurgery Residency, Southern Arizona VA Health Care System
"Data Driven Evolution of MRI-Guided Delivery for Gene Therapy"
Keating 103
Live Zoom, passcode: BearDown
Instructor permission required for enrolled students to attend via Zoom
Hosts: Dr. Beth Hutchinson and Dr. Russ Witte
hutchinsone@email.arizona.edu and rwitte@email.arizona.edu
ABSTRACT:
A number of intraparenchymally delivered gene therapies designed to modify underlying disease and/or improve clinical symptoms in Parkinson’s disease have shown promise in preclinical studies and clinical trials. Larson will review the challenges with associated with surgical delivery of gene therapy vectors, which limited therapeutic outcomes in these trials. These challenges have recently been addressed during the evolution of novel techniques for vector delivery that include the use of intraoperative MRI. This enabled inter-trial modifications in surgical approaches, cannula design, vector volumes, and dosing. The rapid, data-driven evolution of these procedures is unique and has led to enhanced, durable therapeutic outcomes.
BIO:
Paul Larson is professor of neurosurgery at the University of Arizona and chief of neurosurgery at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System. He specializes in functional neurosurgery, specifically deep brain stimulation for a variety of neurological disorders. Larson completed medical school at the University of Arizona in 1995 and did his residency training at the University of Louisville. He was a professor in neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco from 2001 to 2021.
Larson is a pioneer in the field of interventional MRI-guided stereotaxy for DBS, laser ablation and drug delivery, and has performed well over 1,000 iMRI procedures. His clinical research team has been the solo or lead group in 10 gene therapy clinical research trials since 2004 and has the world’s largest experience in intracranial delivery of novel therapeutics for neurodegenerative disorders. Larson also has a significant interest in the neurobiology of tinnitus. His NIH-funded research in this area has led to the discovery of a new brain region involved in auditory perception.
Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation by contacting the Disability Center at 621-3268 (V/TTY).