Jean Bennett facts for kids
Jean Bennett is a brilliant scientist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She focuses on gene therapy, which is a special way to fix diseases by changing genes. Her team created the very first FDA-approved gene therapy for people. This amazing treatment helps people who have a rare type of blindness. In 2022, she was chosen to be a member of the important National Academy of Sciences.
Contents
Her Journey to Becoming a Scientist
Jean Bennett went to Hopkins School and then graduated with honors from Yale University in 1976. She earned a bachelor's degree in biology. Her father, William R. Bennett Jr., was also a professor there.
Later, in 1980, she earned her PhD in Zoology from the University of California, Berkeley. This degree focused on how cells and living things develop. She then went to Harvard University and became a medical doctor, earning her MD in 1986.
Her Amazing Career
Early Discoveries and Research
After getting her PhD from University of California, Berkeley in 1980, Jean Bennett studied the early development of sea urchin embryos. She then did more research at the University of California, San Francisco. There, she worked on new ways to edit genes.
In 1982, she started medical school at Harvard. At Harvard, she studied human genetics. She also looked into conditions like Down's syndrome and Alzheimer's disease. This work helped her get a special grant to start researching gene therapy for retinitis pigmentosa. This is a genetic eye disease that can cause blindness.
Creating a Life-Changing Treatment: Luxturna
To create a working gene therapy for the retina (the back of the eye), Dr. Bennett began studying adenoviruses. These are special viruses that can carry new genes into cells. She tested these viruses in mice and monkeys at the University of Pennsylvania.
At one point, gene therapy research faced challenges after a patient passed away during a trial. But Dr. Bennett kept going. She showed that using a specific virus (AAV) to deliver a working RPE65 gene greatly improved sight in nearly blind dogs.
Because of these great results, Dr. Bennett's team started testing the therapy in children. These children had a faulty RPE65 gene. The first trials showed a huge improvement in how well these children could see and react to light.
Based on this success, the treatment, called LUXTURNA®, was approved by the FDA. This was a huge step forward! Today, her lab continues to explore gene therapy for other eye diseases.
Awards and Special Recognitions
Jean Bennett has received many important awards for her groundbreaking work:
- Sanford Lorraine Cross Award, Sanford Health, 2018
- António Champalimaud Vision Award, 2018
- Marion Spencer Fay Award, 2018
Her Inventions and Patents
Dr. Bennett also holds many patents for her inventions. These patents protect her new ideas and methods. Most of them are about treating or preventing blindness using gene therapy. She has also patented ways to test vision and deliver genes to the eye.
