News from the Nucleic Acid Chemistry Center at UMass Chan Medical School

The 28 UMass Chan Medical School faculty members who completed the Junior Faculty Development Program this year graduated from the program on June 9. 

MD/PhD student Anna Aristarkhova received a predoctoral fellowship award from the NIH to research the mechanisms underlying visual loss in multiple sclerosis.

UMass Chan Medical School faculty made new company pitches to leaders from nearly two dozen venture capital firms and other industry organizations.

The siRNA-based therapy specifically targets photoreceptor cells in the eye, halting disease progression for six months to a year.

Erik Sontheimer, PhD, and Wen Xue, PhD, have developed a gene editing technology that allows for precise, efficient insertion of very large DNA segments into the human genome.

Nursing PhD student William Mar, PhD candidate Humberto Ochoa and MD/MBA student Suhas Suddala will represent their respective peers at UMass Chan’s 2026 Commencement.

The classic science fair format was flipped at UMass Chan as Worcester high school students judged research posters by graduate students and postdocs.

Fen-Biao Gao, PhD, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  

The honor recognizes sustained efforts or leadership contributions to positively impact the career development of postdoctoral scholars.

Technology developed at UMass Chan Medical School has been licensed by PLaN Therapeutics, a nonprofit biotechnology company owned by the PLN Foundation.