Amy Herr

University of California, Berkeley

My lab invented single-cell western blotting, a technology that was licensed by an acemdic spin-out company (Zephyrus). Once commercialized, Bluebird Bio (now Genetix Biotherapeutics) used the single-cell western blot product (Milo) to evaluate the efficacy of its gene therapy, Lyfgenia (lovotibeglogene autotemcel), for sickle cell disease (SCD). scWB quantified the expression of the gene-corrected, anti-sickling hemoglobin protein at the level of individual red blood cells in patients receiving the therapy.

The therapy was one of the first FDA-approved therapies for SCD, with first patients profiled in a NY Times article (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/06/health/sickle-cell-cure-first.html?unlocked_article_code=1.v08.xwMF.1Af5FVGZ46Jn&smid=url-share).