Chloé Fustinoni

I completed a degree in Biological and Biochemical Analysis at IUT Nancy-Brabois (France), followed by the final year of a BSc in Biotechnology at the University of Zagreb (Croatia) through the Erasmus programme. During my studies, I developed a strong interest in molecular biology, genetic engineering, and their application to therapeutic development.

After graduating, I joined OXGENE (now Minaris Advanced Therapies), where I worked on the development of viral vector production platforms for gene therapy. Initially, I contributed to the development of lentiviral (rLV) packaging and producer cell lines, before focusing on improving recombinant AAV (rAAV) manufacturing using TESSA technology (Su et al., 2022) to enhance both yield and safety. As part of this work, I developed a TCID50-based infectivity assay for rAAV quantification using TESSA, enabling functional titration across a range of mammalian cell types and leading to a first-author publication in Molecular Therapy – Methods & Clinical Development.

I am currently a Research Assistant in the Gene Medicine Group at the Radcliffe Department of Medicine. My work supports the MRC Centre of Research Excellence in Therapeutic Genomics, with a focus on developing AAV-based strategies for gene delivery to the brain, including approaches to overcome the blood–brain barrier. I am particularly motivated by the potential of gene therapy to deliver transformative and accessible treatments for rare genetic diseases.