Research Focus

Dr. Jesse B. Owens is an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaiʻi specializing in genome engineering vectors. Dr. Owens has published proof-of-concept technologies demonstrating transposase targeting to the human genome. Recently, Dr. Owens has focused on using laboratory evolution to improve the efficiency of large serine integrases. Dr. Owens splits his lab into two methods for improving gene editing vectors: rational design and directed evolution. Using enzyme structure as a guide, molecular engineering efforts are underway in his lab to improve the specificity and efficiency of targetable transposases and targetable integrases. Additionally, his team uses evolution to discover unknown beneficial mutations and novel mechanisms. The primary application for targeted genome insertion enabled through development of these technologies is cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Owens hopes to address limitations in current methods for generating CAR-T therapies. Specifically, Dr. Owens hopes to improve upon ex-vivo CAR-T therapies by generating cells with predictable and safe insertions of DNA into the genome. He also hopes to improve these therapies by using a system that does not require expensive virus-based components and reaches the therapeutic threshold for efficiency.