The present invention provides HIV-derived lentivectors which are safe, highly efficient, and very potent for expressing transgenes for human gene therapy, especially, in human hematopoietic progenitor cells as well as in all other blood cell derivatives. The lentiviral vectors comprise a self-inactivating configuration for biosafety and promoters such as the EF1? promoter as one example. Additional promoters are also described. The vectors can also comprise additional transcription enhancing elements such as the wood chuck hepatitis virus post-transcriptional regulatory element. These vectors therefore provide useful tools for genetic treatments such as inherited and acquired lympho-hematological disorders, gene-therapies for cancers especially the hematological cancers, as well as for the study of hematopoiesis via lentivector-mediated modification of human HSCs.

The invention provides novel methods, materials and systems that can be used to generate viral vectors having altered tissue and cell targeting abilities. In illustrative embodiments of the invention, the specificity of lentiviral vectors was modulated by a thin polymer shell that synthesized and coupled to the viral envelope in situ. The polymer shell can confers such vectors with new targeting ability via agents such as cyclic RGD (cRGD) peptides that are coupled to the polymer shell. These polymer encapsulated viral vectors exhibit a number of highly desirable characteristics including a higher thermal stability, resistance to serum inactivation in vivo, and an ability to infect dividing and non-dividing cells with high efficiencies.

A gene vector comprising a miRNA sequence target.

The invention provides novel methods, materials and systems that can be used to generate viral vectors having altered tissue and cell targeting abilities. In illustrative embodiments of the invention, the specificity of lentiviral vectors was modulated by a thin polymer shell that synthesized and coupled to the viral envelope in situ. The polymer shell can confers such vectors with new targeting ability via agents such as cyclic RGD (cRGD) peptides that are coupled to the polymer shell. These polymer encapsulated viral vectors exhibit a number of highly desirable characteristics including a higher thermal stability, resistance to serum inactivation in vivo, and an ability to infect dividing and non-dividing cells with high efficiencies.

The present invention relates to a new method for successfully inducing the mutation of cell chemokine receptor CCR5 gene into CCR532 deletion gene by using the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technique. CCR5 is an important co-receptor for entry of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) into human host cells. CCR532 deletion is a 32-bp deletion in CCR5 coding region, which results in change and premature termination in the sequence following the 185.sup.th amino acid. Biallelic homozygous deletion of CCR532 is naturally resistant to HIV infection, i.e., the people carrying this mutation can't be infected by HIV. The present invention uses both lentiviral packaging system and the CRISPR technique to induce CCR532 deletion. Due to the characteristics of a wide range of lentivirus infection, the invention can be applied to cells such as bone marrow stem cells and CD4+ T cells and can be expected to be the therapeutic drug for HIV/AIDS infection or other diseases.

Compositions of retroviruses and methods of using the same for gene delivery, wherein the retroviruses comprise a viral envelope protein comprising at least one mutation that diminishes its native function, a non-viral membrane-bound protein comprising a membrane-bound domain and an extracellular targeting domain.

Compositions of retroviruses and methods of using the same for gene delivery, wherein the retroviruses comprise a viral envelope protein comprising at least one mutation that diminishes its native function, a non-viral membrane-bound protein comprising a membrane-bound domain and an extracellular targeting domain.

The invention relates to a process for producing enveloped viruses in a mildly acid medium. The processes of the invention are useful for producing and recovering at a large scale enveloped viruses under conditions observing good manufacturing practice (GMP).

Methods, systems and devices are implemented in connection with light-responsive ion channel molecules. One such method is implemented using a light-activated ion channel molecule that responds to a light stimulus. The method includes engineering the light-activated ion channel molecule in a cell; and activating the ion channel molecule, in response to light stimulus that is provided to the ion channel molecule and that has properties that do not activate a ChR2 ion channel, to allow ions to pass through the light-activated ion channel molecule.

The invention provides methods for administering lentiviral vectors to the respiratory system of a patient to treat a disease.