"Glioblastoma is a fatal disease that is recalcitrant to therapy. The Sontag Award allowed my lab to translate the new genetic understanding of this terrible disease into daring approaches to therapy that could one day save the lives of brain cancer patients."

About DSA-Funded Research

Dr. O’Shea is at the forefront of cutting-edge technologies to design synthetic viruses and other genetic devices that are controlled and able to selectively target cancer cells. To successfully redesign and program synthetic viral therapies, O’Shea is uncovering the deep-rooted secrets of how viruses, normal and tumor cells work and can be made to work. In addition, she is combining these fundamental insights with new technologies developed in her lab that enable viral gene delivery devices, cancer therapies and vaccines to be assembled using libraries of modular DNA parts, akin to using LEGO® pieces to build a sculpture or robot.