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An Intrathecal CRISPR Strategy for Chronic Pain

August 5, 2021 (PDT) @ 5:30 pm 6:30 pm PDT

OVERVIEW

Genetic studies have identified in humans key targets pivotal to nociceptive processing. In particular, a hereditary loss-of-function mutation in NaV1.7, a sodium channel protein associated with signaling in nociceptive sensory afferents, leads to insensitivity to pain without other neurodevelopmental alterations.

We investigated targeted epigenetic repression of NaV1.7 in primary afferents via epigenome engineering approaches based on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)–dCas9 and zinc finger proteins at the spinal level as a potential treatment for chronic pain.

Portrait of Dr Eric Grigsby in blue suit

Dr. Eric Grigsby, MD, MBA is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Neurovations.  For over three decades, Dr. Grigsby has focused his clinical career on academia and private practice. Today, in addition to busy practices, surgery centers, education divisions and labs, Dr. Grigsby guides research and innovation at Neurovations.

Dr Grigsby has been seminally involved in the majority of the interventional devices and therapies used in the field of pain management. He guides start-ups and industry-leading companies through the innovation, discovery and clinical research process which includes access to sites for clinical investigation in pain and neurologic disease. 

The Neurovations Education division holds world-class programs and ACCME accredited conferences in Pain and Neuroscience.  Additionally, Neurovations Education helps companies and clinicians develop and learn surgical therapies.  Dr. Grigsby’s non-profit foundation, HealthRoots, is committed to community health and innovation for underserved patients and communities.

Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Dr. Grigsby is a graduate of Brown University with an undergraduate degree in Biology and Economics. He completed medical school at Boston University School of Medicine and residency training in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He received his Master’s in Business Administration in Health Sector Management from Duke University.

Ana Moreno is the founder and CEO of Navega Therapeutics. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Bioengineering Department at UCSD , where she spent the last four years developing the platform that enables Navega’s innovative approach.