Converging Paths of Viral and Non-viral Vector Engineering

Vector design is the dominant technical domain of gene therapy research. Diverse ideas and strategies exist for engineering an ideal vector, because vector requirements are specific to particular gene therapy applications. However, these divergent starting points and design directions have begun to converge on one another to promote the entire vector science field. Over the past two decades, viral vectors have been developed that are very effective at gene transfer, and synthetic vectors have been developed that are nonimmunogenic and very flexible in payload.