Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Ophthalmology, Cell and Developmental Biology

Gene Therapy and Vaccines Program

Lab Address

310 Stellar-Chance Labs
422 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6069

Office tel.: 215 898-0915
Lab tel.: 215 898-0163
Fax: 215 573-7155
E-mail: jebennet@mail.med.upenn.edu

Link(s)

Jean Bennett - Neuroscience Grad Group

Education

Yale University: BS (Honors Biology), 1976.

University of California, Berkeley: PhD (Cell and Developmental Biology/Zoology), 1980.

Harvard Medical School: MD, 1986.

Research Interests

• Molecular genetics of retinal degenerations.
• Gene therapy-mediated treatment of ocular disease.

Key words: Retina, Neovascularization, Neuronal Degeneration, Gene Therapy, Viral Vector, AAV, Lentivirus, Adenovirus, Vision, Animal Models, Eye, Immune Response.

Search PubMed for articles

Description of Research

Jean Bennett studies the molecular genetics of inherited retinal degenerations with the idea of using this knowledge to develop rational approaches for treatment of these diseases. Target diseases include retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Studies in her laboratory range for identifying the molecular bases of retinal degenerations, generating animal models for these diseases and rescuing vision in animal models through gene based treatments. Dr. Bennett was one of the first investigators to use viral vectors to deliver transgenes to specific cells in the retina and also led the first team to demonstrate proof-of-principle of ocular gene therapy. She has developed a number of strategies for gene therapy-mediated treatments for retinal disease. Dr. Bennettís work leads naturally to translational research. For example, a recent study conducted in her lab and with collaborators at UPenn, Cornell and University of Florida led to a remarkable reversal of blindness in a canine model of a blinding disease affecting infants. This treatment will be tested in a human clinical trial.

Recent Publications

Reich, SJ, Auricchio, A, Hildinger, M, Glover, E, Maguire, A.M., Wilson, J.M., Bennett, J, "Efficient trans-splicing in the retina expands the utility of adeno-associated virus as a vector for gene therapy," Human Gene Therapy, 14: 37-44 (2003).

Bennett, J, "Immune response following intraocular delivery of recombinant viral vectors," Gene Therapy, 10(11) 977-982 (2003).

Chen, L., Dentchev, T., Wong, R., Zeng, Y., Hahn, P., Wang, J., Wen, R., Bennett, J., and Dunaief, J., "Ceruloplasm expression increases in the retina following photic injury," Molecular Vision, 9:151-158 (2003).

Surace, EM, Auricchio, A, Reich, SJ, Rex, T, Glover, E, Pineles, S, Tang, W, O'Connor, E, Lyubarsky, A, Savchenko, A, Pugh, EN, Maguire, AM, Wilson, JM and Bennett, J, "Delivery of Adeno-Associated Viral Vectors to the Fetal Retina: Impact of Viral Capsid Proteins on Retinal Neuronal Progenitor Transduction, J. Virology, 77(14): 7957-63 (2003).

Reich, SJ, Fosnot, J, Kuroki, A, Tang, W, Yang, X, Maguire, AM, Bennett, J, Tolentino, MJ, "small interfering RNA targeting VEGF effectively inhibits ocular neovascularization in a mouse model," Molecular Vision 9:210-6, (2003).

Rex, TS, Allocca, M, Domenici, L, Surace, EM, Maguire, AM, Lyubarsky, A, Cellerino, A, Bennett, J and Auricchio, A, "Systemic but not intraocular Epo gene transfer protects the retina from light- and genetic-induced degeneration," Mol Ther 10(5):855-861 (2004).

Acland, GM, Aguirre, GD, Bennett, J, Aleman, TS, Cideciyan, AV, Bennicelli, J, Dejneka, NS, Pearce-Kelling, SE, Maguire, AM, Palczewski, K, Hauswirth, WW, Jacobson, SG, "Long-term restoration of rod and cone vision by single dose rAAV-mediated gene transfer to the retina in a canine model of childhood blindness," Molecular Therapy, in press (2005).

Jacobson SG, Aleman TS, Cideciyan AV, Sumaroka A, Schwartz SB, Windsor EAM, Traboulsi EI, Heon E, Pittler SJ, Milam AH, Maguire AM, Palczewski K, Stone EM, Bennett J. Identifying photoreceptors in blind eyes due to RPE65 mutations:Prerequisite for human gene therapy success. PNAS 102:6177-6182 (2005).

Lebherz C, Auricchio A, Maguire AM, Rivera VM, Tang W, Grant RL, Clackson T, Bennett J, Wilson JM, "Long-term inducible gene expression in the eye via adeno-associated virus gene transfer in nonhuman primates," Human Gene Therapy 16(2):178-86 (2005).

Lebherz, C, Maguire, AM, Auricchio, A, Tang, W, Aleman, TS, Wei, Z, Grant, R, Cideciyan, AV, Jacobson, SG, Wilson, JM and Bennett, J, Non-Human Primate Models for Retinal Neovascularization using AAV2-Mediated Overexpression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor, Diabetes 54(4):1141-9 (2005)

Lab

Rotation Projects for 2006-2007

Gene therapy for an inherited retinal degeneration; Gene therapy for retinal neovascularization; Generation of a mouse model for an inherited macular degeneration; Gene therapy for Leber Congenital Amaurosis.

Lab personnel:

Jeffrey Bedrosian
Jeannette Bennicelli
Daniel Chung
Garrett DuBois
Nick Keiser
Aatish Patel
Tonia Rex
Waixing Tang
Zhangyong Wei
Shicheng Yang