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</div> <div id="header" class="row-full-width"> <div class="inside clearfix"> <a href="/" title="Home" rel="home" id="logo"> <img src="https://livingcelltherapy.ucsf.edu/sites/g/files/tkssra7091/f/lti-500.png" alt="Home" /> </a> <div class="region region-header"> <div id="block-search-form" class="block block-search"> <div class="content"> <form onsubmit="if(this.search_block_form.value=='Search'){ alert('Please enter a search'); return false; }" action="/" method="post" id="search-block-form" accept-charset="UTF-8"><div><div class="container-inline"> <h2 class="element-invisible">Search form</h2> <div class="form-item form-type-textfield form-item-search-block-form"> <label class="element-invisible" for="edit-search-block-form--2">Search... </label> <input title="Enter the terms you wish to search for." placeholder="Search..." class="text-input fa fa-search form-text" aria-hidden="" type="text" id="edit-search-block-form--2" name="search_block_form" value="" size="40" maxlength="128" 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class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="bg-slider-image" style="background-image:url('https://livingcelltherapy.ucsf.edu/sites/g/files/tkssra7091/f/styles/slider_image_left/public/20673870162_b6dc052b88_z_0.jpg?itok=xURFYecl')"></div></div></div></div><div class="group-slider-content field-group-div"><div class="group-slider-inside field-group-div"><div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-title field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">About the Living Therapeutics Initiative</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">From basic research to clinical trials, cell therapy research aims to enhance patient outcomes for rare diseases.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-link field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="https://livingcelltherapy.ucsf.edu/about">Read more</a></div></div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div><div class="field-item odd"><div class="entity entity-paragraphs-item paragraphs-item-slider"> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="bg-slider-image" style="background-image:url('https://livingcelltherapy.ucsf.edu/sites/g/files/tkssra7091/f/styles/slider_image_left/public/AdobeStock_235987418.jpeg?itok=z9ygxxAH')"></div></div></div></div><div class="group-slider-content field-group-div"><div class="group-slider-inside field-group-div"><div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-title field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">News</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Latest news, events, and funding opportunities.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-link field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="https://livingcelltherapy.ucsf.edu/news">Read more</a></div></div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-paragraphs-item paragraphs-item-slider"> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="bg-slider-image" style="background-image:url('https://livingcelltherapy.ucsf.edu/sites/g/files/tkssra7091/f/styles/slider_image_left/public/Glioblastoma-cells-invade-brain-organoid.jpg?itok=lK2uyozi')"></div></div></div></div><div class="group-slider-content field-group-div"><div class="group-slider-inside field-group-div"><div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-title field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Our Research</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Living Therapeutics Initiative (LTI) provides support to UCSF cellular therapy projects across a broad range of diseases, including solid and hematological cancers, autoimmune diseases, immune deficiencies, neuro-inflammatory diseases, and others. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-link field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="https://livingcelltherapy.ucsf.edu/our-research">Read more</a></div></div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div><div class="field-item odd"><div class="entity entity-paragraphs-item paragraphs-item-slider"> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="bg-slider-image" style="background-image:url('https://livingcelltherapy.ucsf.edu/sites/g/files/tkssra7091/f/styles/slider_image_left/public/UCSF_Mission%20Bay%20Drone_051a_1.jpeg?itok=yC8TCfVo')"></div></div></div></div><div class="group-slider-content field-group-div"><div class="group-slider-inside field-group-div"><div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-title field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Facility</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pg-slider-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The LTI includes a new facility which will be located on the Mission Bay campus dedicated to producing cellular products for testing in patients.</div></div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="main-wrapper"> <div id="main" class="clearfix"> <div id="content" class="column"> <div class="inside"> <a id="main-content"></a> <div class="tabs"></div> <div class="region region-content"> <div id="block-system-main" class="block block-system"> <div class="content"> <div id="node-1" class="node node-page slider-primary clearfix" about="/home" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document"> <span property="dc:title" content="Home" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><span property="sioc:num_replies" content="0" datatype="xsd:integer" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-name-field-body field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="wysiwyg_quote align--right size--twofifth bg--navy"> <p class="wysiwyg_quote--content">The Living Therapeutics Initiative creates a seamless continuum from the earliest stages of discovery all the way through to patient treatment in our hospitals.</p> <h5 class="wysiwyg_quote--author">UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS</h5> <p class="wysiwyg_quote--org"></p> </div> <p>Living Therapies, also known as cellular therapies, are among our most sophisticated disease treatments developed to date. The potential power of manipulating cells for therapeutic use had been recognized for decades, but until recently the technical challenges for generating these agents and then managing the clinical side-effects had severely limited their development and use. However, in the past 12 years, the field has exploded with scientific and technological advancements that have allowed scientists to more precisely design genetically-modified cells with improved safety and efficacy and have allowed doctors to better manage their clinical delivery with improved outcomes. As a result, it is possible to correct the genetic defects in certain cell types and manipulate immune cells to attack and treat diseases such as some cancers and autoimmune diseases. These early successes are helping drive the design of more sophisticated therapies for more challenging indications.</p> <p>UCSF has long been at the forefront of cellular therapies. The first chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T) were initially described by UCSF’s Art Weiss, MD, PhD, over 30 years ago. Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, of UCSF won the Nobel prize in 2012 for his groundbreaking work in reprogramming mature cells to become pluripotent stem cells. These pluripotent stem cells, also called iPSC cells, are foundational technology driving novel cellular therapy development across a range of complex diseases. More recently, our faculty have been leaders in modifying signaling circuits, improving methodologies, and harnessing the power of CRISPR/Cas9 technologies to correct or alter cells for disease treatment. Wendell Lim, PhD, is developing “smarter CAR T-cells” by designing them to recognize multiple features of tumors and using that information to initiate more specific and effective anti-tumor responses. Alex Marson, MD, PhD, is developing the next generation CRISPR tools that are vastly improving our ability to modify and genetically map human T-cells. </p> <p><strong>The vision of the Living Therapeutics Initiative (LTI) is to harness the vast scientific talent and clinical expertise at UCSF. The mission is to advance future promising cellular therapies from early discovery through proof-of-concept studies and into clinical trial evaluation to provide meaningful therapeutic solutions and inform future innovations. </strong><br /> </p> </div></div></div> <div class="paragraphs-items paragraphs-items-field-paragraph-sections paragraphs-items-field-paragraph-sections-full paragraphs-items-full"> <div class="field field-name-field-paragraph-sections field-type-paragraphs field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="entity entity-paragraphs-item paragraphs-item-textarea"> <div class="content"> </div> </div> </div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="sidebar" class="column"> </div> </div></div> <div id="footer"> <div class="section"> <div class="footer-bottom"> <nav aria-label="Footer Navigation" class="footer--navigation"> <ul> <li><a href="/contact-us">Contact Us</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/accessibility-resources">Accessibility</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/website-privacy-policy">Privacy Policy</a></li> <li><a href="https://websites.ucsf.edu/website-terms-use">Terms of Use </a></li> <li><a href="https://websites.ucsf.edu/azlist">A-Z Website List</a></li> </ul> </nav> <div class="footer--copyright"> <p>© 2025 The Regents of the University of California</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> /*<![CDATA[*/ (function() { var sz = document.createElement('script'); sz.type = 'text/javascript'; sz.async = true; sz.src = '//siteimproveanalytics.com/js/siteanalyze_8343.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(sz, s); })(); /*]]>*/ </script> </body> </html>