Gene therapy, gene editing, targeted delivery of therapeutics, and translational development of therapeutics for the treatment of rare and ultra-rare diseases.
Dr. Maria J. Chiuchiolo joined the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in April 2024 as a Scientific Program Manager in the Ultra Rare Genetic Therapies (URGenT) program at the Division of Translational Research. Before joining NINDS, Dr. Chiuchiolo worked at City of Hope Medical Center (COH), where she held the position of Director, Translational Development. At COH, she managed internal and external cell and gene therapy manufacturing programs and early-phase clinical trials at the COH Translational Development Center. Prior to her position at COH, Dr. Chiuchiolo joined NIH as a Federal Contractor, where she managed translational projects for the development of Sickle Cell disease gene-based therapies at the NHLBI Cure Sickle Cell Initiative and HIV viral vector vaccines at the NIAID Division of AIDS, Vaccine Research Program. Maria gained her core experience in gene therapy vector development at the Department of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and in the design and development of viral vector platforms for vaccine development at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). She received her PhD in Biological Sciences at the Universidad Nacional de Tucuman in Argentina, focused on molecular genetics, microbiology, and biological chemistry.