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Associate Professor Samantha Ginn
Senior Lecturer
Medicine, Children's Medical Research Institute
Medicine, Children's Medical Research Institute
Dr Samantha Ginn received her PhD from The University of Sydney in 1999 and is now a senior researcher in the Gene Therapy Research Unit at the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) at Westmead. Her research focuses on developing treatment strategies for diseases of the liver and haematopoietic system using viral vector-based gene transfer and genome editing technology. Both these organs have immense promise as targets for the treatment of genetic disease in children. Dr Ginn is the current Secretary of the Australasian Gene and Cell Therapy Society and sits on Institutional Committees for Animal Ethics, Grants Advisory, Early Career Researchers (ECRs), Gender Equity and Postgraduate Student Selection.
The liver is an attractive target for gene therapy with the incidence of disease-causing mutations being reported as high as 1:800 births. My research focuses on developing strategies for correcting genetic metabolic disease phenotypes in humans, by modelling these in mice. I have been using recombinant vector systems based on adeno-associated virus (AAV), that is highly liver tropic, to deliver and evaluate genome editing tools in normal mouse and human hepatocytes as well as human hepatocytes derived from patients with ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency, a urea cycle disorder, as a model system.
Infection and Immunological Conditions, Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health
| Project title | Research student |
|---|---|
| Development of CRISPR-based gene therapy for dominant negative Osteogenesis Imperfecta | Christal AU-YEUNG |
| Development of tissue-targeted vectors for musculoskeletal gene therapy | Julian CHU |
| Mapping antibody responses to adeno-associated virus to overcome pre-existing immunity for more effective gene therapies | Bradley HALL |
| Using patient-derived iPSC-derived organoids to develop a novel gene therapy for deaf-blinding Usher1 syndrome | Vivienne KAISER |
| Developing Gene Therapy for Rare Genetic Kidney Disease | Emily RONNING |
| Development of an AAV-LNP gene editing strategy for treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia | Eva VAN DIJK |
Publications
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Book Chapters
- Ginn, S., Christina, S., Alexander, I. (2021). Genome editing in the human liver: Progress and translational considerations. In Gianluca Petris (Eds.), Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science: Curing Genetic Diseases Through Genome Reprogramming, (pp. 257-288). Cambridge: Elsevier. [More Information]
- Ginn, S., Alexander, I. (2016). Gene therapy. Wiley StatsRef: Statistics Reference Online, (pp. 1-19). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
- Fleming, J., Ginn, S., Alexander, I. (2003). Dorsal root ganglia sensory neurons. In Federico (Eds.), Lentivirus Gene Engineering Protocols, (pp. 155-167). New Jersey: Humana Press.
Journals
- Graves, L., van Dijk, E., Zhu, E., Koyyalamudi, S., Wotton, T., Sung, D., Srinivasan, S., Ginn, S., Alexander, I. (2024). AAV-delivered hepato-adrenal cooperativity in steroidogenesis: Implications for gene therapy for congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Molecular Therapy - Methods & Clinical Development, 32(2), 101232. [More Information]
- Ginn, S., Mandwie, M., Alexander, I., Edelstein, M., Abedi, M. (2024). Gene therapy clinical trials worldwide to 2023—an update. Journal of Gene Medicine, 26(8), e3721. [More Information]
- Schindeler, A., Lee, L., O'Donohue, A., Ginn, S., Munns, C. (2022). Curative Cell and Gene Therapy for Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 37(5), 826-836. [More Information]
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2024
- Graves, L., van Dijk, E., Zhu, E., Koyyalamudi, S., Wotton, T., Sung, D., Srinivasan, S., Ginn, S., Alexander, I. (2024). AAV-delivered hepato-adrenal cooperativity in steroidogenesis: Implications for gene therapy for congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Molecular Therapy - Methods & Clinical Development, 32(2), 101232. [More Information]
- Ginn, S., Mandwie, M., Alexander, I., Edelstein, M., Abedi, M. (2024). Gene therapy clinical trials worldwide to 2023—an update. Journal of Gene Medicine, 26(8), e3721. [More Information]
2022
- Schindeler, A., Lee, L., O'Donohue, A., Ginn, S., Munns, C. (2022). Curative Cell and Gene Therapy for Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 37(5), 826-836. [More Information]
2021
- Ginn, S., Christina, S., Alexander, I. (2021). Genome editing in the human liver: Progress and translational considerations. In Gianluca Petris (Eds.), Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science: Curing Genetic Diseases Through Genome Reprogramming, (pp. 257-288). Cambridge: Elsevier. [More Information]
2020
- Ginn, S., Amaya, A., Liao, S., Zhu, E., Cunningham, S., Lee, M., Hallwirth, C., Logan, G., Tay, S., Cesare, A., Pickett, H., Dilworth, K., Lisowski, L., Alexander, I., et al (2020). Efficient in vivo editing of OTC-deficient patient-derived primary human hepatocytes. JHEP Reports, 2(1), 1-12. [More Information]
- Cabanes Creus, M., Hallwirth, C., Westhaus, A., Ng, B., Liao, S., Zhu, E., Navarro, R., Baltazar, G., Drouyer, M., Scott, S., Logan, G., Ginn, S., Alexander, I., Lisowski, L., et al (2020). Restoring the natural tropism of AAV2 vectors for human liver. Science Translational Medicine, 12(560), eaba3312. [More Information]
2019
- Lee, L., Peacock, L., Ginn, S., Cantrill, L., Cheng, T., Little, D., Munns, C., Schindeler, A. (2019). Bone Marrow Transplantation for Treatment of the Col1a2+/G610C Osteogenesis Imperfecta Mouse Model. Calcified Tissue International, 104(4), 426-436. [More Information]
- Cabanes Creus, M., Ginn, S., Amaya, A., Liao, S., Westhaus, A., Hallwirth, C., Wilmott, P., Ward, J., Dilworth, K., Santilli, G., Rybicki, A., Thrasher, A., Filip, A., Alexander, I., Lisowski, L., et al (2019). Codon-Optimization of Wild-Type Adeno-Associated Virus Capsid Sequences Enhances DNA Family Shuffling while Conserving Functionality. Molecular Therapy - Methods & Clinical Development, 12, 71-84. [More Information]
2018
- Ginn, S., Amaya, A., Alexander, I., Edelstein, M., Abedi, M. (2018). Gene therapy clinical trials worldwide to 2017: An update. Journal of Gene Medicine, 20(5), 1-16. [More Information]
- Ginn, S., McCormack, M., Alexander, I. (2018). Thymocyte self-renewal and oncogenic risk in immunodeficient mouse models: relevance for human gene therapy clinical trials targeting haematopoietic stem cell populations? Mammalian Genome, 29, 771-776. [More Information]
2017
- Logan, G., Dane, A., Hallwirth, C., Smyth, C., Wilkie, E., Amaya, A., Zhu, E., Khandekar, N., Ginn, S., Liao, S., Cunningham, S., Sasaki, N., Cabanes Creus, M., Tam, P., Lisowski, L., Alexander, I., et al (2017). Identification of liver-specific enhancer-promoter activity in the 3' untranslated region of the wild-type AAV2 genome. Nature Genetics, 49(8), 1267-1273. [More Information]
- Ginn, S., Hallwirth, C., Liao, S., Teber, E., Arthur, J., Wu, J., Lee, H., Tay, S., Hu, M., Reddel, R., Alexander, S., Alexander, I., et al (2017). Limiting Thymic Precursor Supply Increases the Risk of Lymphoid Malignancy in Murine X-Linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids, 6, 1-14. [More Information]
2016
- Ginn, S., Alexander, I. (2016). Gene therapy. Wiley StatsRef: Statistics Reference Online, (pp. 1-19). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
2015
- Hallwirth, C., Garg, G., Peters, T., Kramer, B., Malani, N., Hyman, J., Ruan, X., Ginn, S., Hetherington, N., Veeravalli, L., Liddle, C., Alexander, I., et al (2015). Coherence analysis discriminates between retroviral integration patterns in CD34(+) cells transduced under differing clinical trial conditions. Molecular Therapy - Methods & Clinical Development, 2, 1-10. [More Information]
2014
- Deakin, C., Deakin, J., Ginn, S., Young, P., Humphreys, D., Suter, C., Alexander, I., Hallwirth, C. (2014). Impact of next-generation sequencing error on analysis of barcoded plasmid libraries of known complexity and sequence. Nucleic Acids Research, 42(16), 1-14. [More Information]
2013
- Ginn, S., Alexander, I., Edelstein, M., Abedi, M., Wixon, J. (2013). Gene therapy clinical trials worldwide to 2012 - an update. Journal of Gene Medicine, 15(2), 65-77. [More Information]
2012
- Ginn, S., Alexander, I. (2012). Gene therapy: Progress in childhood disease. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 48(6), 466-471. [More Information]
2010
- Ginn, S., Liao, S., Dane, A., Hu, M., Hyman, J., Finnie, J., Zheng, M., Cavazzana-Calvo, M., Alexander, S., Thrasher, A., Alexander, I. (2010). Lymphomagenesis in SCID-X1 Mice Following Lentivirus-mediated Phenotype Correction Independent of Insertional Mutagenesis and gammac Overexpression. Molecular Therapy, 18(5), 965-976. [More Information]
2009
- Logan, G., Wang, L., Zheng, M., Ginn, S., Coppel, R., Alexander, I. (2009). Antigen-specific humoral tolerance or immune augmentation induced by intramuscular delivery of adeno-associated viruses encoding CTLA4-Ig-antigen fusion molecules. Gene Therapy (Basingstoke), 16(2), 200-210. [More Information]
- Liu, R., Ginn, S., Lek, M., North, K., Alexander, I., Little, D., Schindeler, A. (2009). Myoblast sensitivity and fibroblast insensitivity to osteogenic conversion by BMP-2 correlates with the expression of Bmpr-1 a. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 10, 51-1-51-12. [More Information]
2008
- Curtin, J., Dane, A., Swanson, A., Alexander, I., Ginn, S. (2008). Bidirectional promoter interference between two widely used internal heterologous promoters in a late-generation lentiviral construct. Gene Therapy (Basingstoke), 15(5), 384-390. [More Information]
2007
- Kizana, E., Chang, C., Cingolani, E., Sekar, R., Ramirez-Correa, G., Abraham, M., Ginn, S., Tung, L., Alexander, I., Marban, E. (2007). Gene transfer of connexin43 mutants attenuates coupling in cardiomyocytes: novel basis for modulation of cardiac conduction by gene therapy. Circulation Research, 100(11), 1597-1604. [More Information]
- Yu, Z., McKay, K., Van Asperen, P., Zheng, M., Fleming, J., Ginn, S., Kizana, E., Latham, M., Feneley, M., Kirkland, P., Lumbers, E., Alexander, I., et al (2007). Lentivirus vector-mediated gene transfer to the developing bronchiolar airway epithelium in the fetal lamb. Journal of Gene Medicine, 9(6), 429-439. [More Information]
- Smyth, C., Ginn, S., Deakin, C., Logan, G., Alexander, I. (2007). Limiting {gamma}c expression differentially affects signaling via the interleukin (IL)-7 and IL-15 receptors. Blood, 110(1), 91-98. [More Information]
2006
- Kizana, E., Ginn, S., Smyth, C., Boyd, A., Thomas, S., Allen, D., Ross, D., Alexander, I. (2006). Fibroblasts modulate cardiomyocyte excitability: implications for cardiac gene therapy. Gene Therapy (Basingstoke), 13(22), 1611-1615. [More Information]
2005
- Kizana, E., Ginn, S., Allen, D., Ross, D., Alexander, I. (2005). Fibroblasts can be genetically modified to produce excitable cells capable of electrical coupling. Circulation, 111(4), 394-398. [More Information]
- Kizana, E., Ginn, S., Smyth, C., Thomas, S., Allen, D., Ross, D., Alexander, I. (2005). Fibroblasts Modulate Cardiomyocyte Excitability: Insights from Fibroblasts with Genetically Altered Connexin43 Expression. Journal of Gene Medicine, 7(point P8 on page 1127), 1127-1127.
- Fleming, J., Spinoulas, A., Zheng, M., Cunningham, S., Ginn, S., McQuilty, R., Rowe, P., Alexander, I. (2005). Partial correction of sensitivity to oxidant stress in Friedreich ataxia patient fibroblasts by frataxin-encoding adeno-associated virus and lentivirus vectors. Human Gene Therapy, 16(8), 947-956. [More Information]
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2004
- Ginn, S., Smyth, C., Wong, M., Bennetts, B., Rowe, P., Alexander, I. (2004). A Novel Splice-Site Mutation In The Common Gamma Chain (Gammac) Gene Il2Rg Results In X-Linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency With An Atypical Nk+ Phenotype. Human Mutation, 23(5), 522-523.
2003
- Fleming, J., Ginn, S., Alexander, I. (2003). Dorsal root ganglia sensory neurons. In Federico (Eds.), Lentivirus Gene Engineering Protocols, (pp. 155-167). New Jersey: Humana Press.
- Ginn, S., Fleming, J., Curtin, J., Alexander, I. (2003). Gene therapy: a roller-coaster ride. Today's Life Science (Australia), 15(3), 26-29.
- Ginn, S., Fleming, J., Rowe, P., Alexander, I. (2003). Promoter interference mediated by the U3 Region in early-generation HIV-1-Derived Lentivirus Vectors can influence detection of transgene expression in a cell-type and species-specific manner. Human Gene Therapy, 14(12), 1127-1137. [More Information]
Selected Grants
2024
- Developing an AAV-based genome editing approach for the treatment of NF2, Ginn S, Morrison H, Children's Tumor Foundation (USA)/Research Grant
2022
- Genomic editing as a therapeutic approach to congenital adrenal hyperplasia, Alexander I, Graves L, Ginn S, European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and International Fund Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia/Project Grant
- Characterization of novel bioengineered vectors targeting Schwann cells in a non-human primate model for human gene therapies, Ginn S, Lisowski L, Drouyer M, Children's Tumor Foundation (USA)/Research Grant
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