Zulema Romero-Garcia

Zulema Romero Garcia, PhD

Assistant Adjunct Professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics

Languages

English

Education

Fellowships

Gene Therapy, University of Granada, Spain, 2009
Gene Therapy, University of California, Los Angeles, 2009

Degrees

PhD, University of Granada, Spain, 2009
MS, University of Granada, Spain, 2006
BS, University of Granada, Spain, 2004

Contact Information

Scientific Interests

Dr. Romero Garcia's main career goal is to improve and develop new gene editing methods for hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) to treat monogenic diseases of blood cells, a sickle cell disease. Gene editing is modifying the angle that researchers tackle cell engineering; therefore, these optimized gene editing protocols can advance CAR T cell engineering attempts, ultimately improving cancer therapy and human health.

Highlighted Publications

Romero Z, Urbinati F, Geiger S, Cooper A, Wherley J, Kaufman ML, Hollis R, Senadheera S, Ruiz de Assin R, Sahagian A, Gellis A, Wang X, Gjertson D, DeOliveira S, Kempert P, Shupien S, Abdel-Azim H, Walters M, Meiselman HJ, WenbyRB, Gruber T, Marder V, Coates TD, and Kohn DB. Gene Transfer to Human Bone Marrow for Sickle Cell Disease. J Clin Invest. 2013. 123(8): 3317–3330. PMID: 23863630

Romero Z, Campo-Fernandez B, Wherley J, Kaufman ML, Urbinati F, Cooper AR, Hoban MD, Baldwin KM, Lumaquin D, Wang X, Senadheera S, Hollis RP and Kohn DB. The human ankyrin 1 promoter insulator prevents silencing of gene expression in a beta-globin lentiviral vector in human hematopoietic stem cells. Mol. Ther. Methods Clin. Dev. 2015. 22; 2:15012. PMID: 26029723

Long J, Hoban MD, Cooper AR, Kaufman ML, Kuo CY, Campo-Fernandez B, Lumaquin D, Hollis RP, Wang X, Kohn DB, Romero Z. Characterization of Gene Alterations following Editing of the β-Globin Gene Locus in Hematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cells. Mol Ther. 2017.pii: S1525-0016(17)30557-9. PMID: 29221806

Romero Z, Lomova A, Said S, Miggelbrink A, Kuo CY, Campo-Fernandez B, Hoban MD, Masiuk KE, Clark DN, Long J, Sanchez JM, Velez M, Miyahira E, Zhang R, Brown D, Wang X, Kurmangaliyev Y, Hollis RP, and Kohn DB. Editing the Sickle Cell Disease Mutation in Human Hematopoietic Stem Cells: Comparison of Endonucleases and Homologous Donor Templates. Mol Ther. May 2019. 2019 Aug 7;27(8):1389-1406. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2019.05.014.