Tristan A. Scott, Ph.D.

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Tristan A. Scott, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor, Center for Gene Therapy
Research Area
  • Gene Therapy
  • Gene Editing
Academic Appointments
  • Assistant Research Professor, Center for Gene Therapy

Tristan Scott, Ph.D., is an assistant research professor within the Center for Gene Therapy at City of Hope. He obtained his Ph.D. in molecular medicine and hematology, with an accompanying postdoctoral fellowship at the University of the Witwatersrand. His research has primarily focused on developing and applying protein- and RNA-guided technologies, including RNA interference, CRISPR/Cas and Zinc-finger technology for gene therapy applications toward infectious agents and cancers driven by viral agents. He has also developed various "classic" gene replacement or precision gene-editing cure approaches for hereditary diseases. He has explored a wide range of biological delivery systems, such as adeno-associated viruses, lentiviral vectors, lipid nanoparticles and extracellular vesicles for gene delivery. The overall focus of his research is the development of novel cellular and gene therapies against viral pathogens and inherited disorders with a significant global health burden.

Location

Education & Experience

Degrees
  • 2014, Ph.D., University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
  • 2006, B.Sc., (Hons), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
  • 2005, B.Sc., University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Fellowship
  • 2014-2016, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Professional Experience
  • 2022-present, Assistant Research Professor, Center for Gene Therapy, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, California
  • 2017-2022, Staff Scientist, Center for Gene Therapy, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, California
  • 2012-2014, Research Associate, Department of Molecular Medicine and Hematology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

 

Awards & Memberships

  • 2022, American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Career Development Award
  • 2022, P30 Supplement Award (P30)
  • 2015, Poliomyelitis Research Foundation Local Fellowship
  • 2021-2022, Section Editor, Molecular Therapy - Nucleic acids
  • 2019-2020, Associate Editor, Molecular Therapy - Nucleic acids
  • 2011-present, Associate Member, American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy

Publications

  • Scott TA, Soemardy C, Ray RM, Morris KV. Targeted zinc-finger repressors to the oncogenic HBZ gene inhibit adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) proliferation. (2023). NAR Cancer. 5 (1): zcac046.
  • Scott T, Morris KV. From amputations to antibiotics: a future beyond “hacksaw” gene editing. (2022) Molecular Therapy (Editorial). 30 (12): 3505-3506.
  • Guan M, Lim L, Holguin L, Han T, Vyas V, Urak R, Miller A, Browning DL, Echavarria L, Li S, Li S, Chang W-C, Scott T, Yazaki P, Morris KV, Cardoso AA, Blanchard MS, Le Verche V, Forman SJ, Zaia JA, Burnett JC, Wang X. (2022) Pre-clinical Data Supporting Immunotherapy for HIV Using CMV-HIV-Specific CAR T Cells with CMV Vaccine. Molecular Therapy - Methods & Clinical Development. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omtm.2022.04.007.
  • Davis AM, Scott TA, Morris KV. (2022) Harnessing Rift Valley fever virus NSs gene for cancer gene therapy. Cancer Gene Therapy. doi: 10.1038/s41417-022-00463-4.
  •  Scott TA, Supramaniam A, Idris A, Cardoso AA, Shrivastava S, Kelly G, Grepo NA, Soemardy C, Ray RM, McMillan NAJ, Morris KV. (2022) Engineered extracellular vesicles directed to the spike protein inhibit SARS-CoV-2. Molecular Therapy – Methods and Clinical Developments. 24: 355-366.
  • Scott TA, Morris KV. (2021) Designer nucleases to treat malignant cancers driven by viral oncogenes. Virology Journal. 18 (1):18.
  • Scott TA, O’Meally D, Grepo NA, Soemardy C, Lazar DC, Zheng Y, Weinberg MS, Planelles V, Morris KV. (2021) Broadly active zinc finger protein-guided transcriptional activation of HIV. Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids. 20: 18-29.
  • Shrivastava S, M. Ray RM, Holguin L, Echavarria L, Grepo N, Scott TA, Burnett J, Morris KV. (2021) Exosome-mediated stable epigenetic repression of HIV-1. Nature Communications. 12 (1): 5541.
  • Idris A, Davis A, Supramaniam A, Acharya D, Kelly G, Tayyar Y, West N, Zhang P, McMillan CLD, Soemardy C, Ray R, O’Meally D, Scott TA, McMillan NAJ, Morris KV. (2021) A SARS-CoV-2 targeted siRNA-nanoparticle therapy for COVID-19. Molecular Therapy. 29 (7):2219-2226.
  • Scott T, Soemardy C, Morris KV. (2020) Development of a facile approach for generating chemically-modified CRISPR/Cas9 RNA. Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids. 19: 1176-1175.
  • Urak RZ, Soemardy C, Ray R, Li S, Shevchenko G, Scott T, Lim L, Wang X, Morris KV. (2020) Conditionally Replicating Vectors Mobilize Chimeric Antigen Receptors against HIV. Molecular Therapy – Methods and Clinical Developments. 19: 285-294.
  • Villamizar O, Waters SA, Scott T, Grepo N, Jaffe A, Morris KV. (2020) Mesenchymal Stem Cell exosome delivered Zinc Finger Protein activation of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator. 10 (3): e12053.
  • Scott T, Urak R, Soemardy C, Morris KV. (2019) Improved Cas9 activity by specific modifications of the tracrRNA. Scientific Reports. 9:16104.
  • Villamizar O, Waters SA, Scott T, Saayman S, Grepo N, Urak R, Davis A, Jaffe A, Morris K. (2019) Targeted activation of Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator. Molecular Therapy. 27 (10): P1737-1748.
  • Pinto DO, Scott TA, DeMarino C, Pleet ML, Vo TT, Saifuddin M, Kovalskyy D, Erickson J, Cowen M, Barclay RA, Zeng C, Weinberg MS, Kashanchi R. (2019) Effect of transcription inhibition and generation of suppressive viral non-coding RNAs. Retrovirology. 16 (1): 13.
  • van den Berg FT, Makoah NA, Ali SA, Scott TA, Ziki R, Mutsvunguma LZ, Mkhize N, Lambson B, Kgagudi P, Crowther C, Karim SSA, Balazs AB, Weinberg MS, Ely A, Arbuthnot P, Morris L. (2019) AAV-mediated expression of broadly neutralizing and vaccine-like antibodies targeting the HIV-1 envelope V2 region. Molecular Therapy – Methods and Clinical Developments. 14: 100-112.
  • Nieminen T, Scott T, Lin FM, Chen Z, Yla-Herttuala S, Morris K. (2018) Long Non-Coding RNA Modulation of VEGF-A during Hypoxia. Non-coding RNA. 4 (4): 34.
  • Moyo B, Bloom K, Scott T, Ely A, Arbuthnot P. (2018) Advances with using CRISPR/Cas-mediated gene editing to treat infections with Hepatitis B virus and Hepatitis C virus. Virus Research. 244:311-320.
  • Scott T, Moyo B, Nicholson S, Maepa MB, Watashi K, Ely A, Weinberg MS, Arbuthnot P. (2017) ssAAVs containing cassettes encoding SaCas9 and guides targeting hepatitis B virus inactivate replication of the virus in cultured cells. Scientific Reports. 7: 74.
  • Saayman SM, Lazar DC, Scott TA, Hart JR, Takahashi M, Burnett JC, Planelles V, Morris KV, Weinberg MS. (2016) Potent and targeted activation of latent HIV-1 using the CRISPR/dCas9 activator complex. Molecular Therapy. 24(3):488-98.
  • Scott T, Paweska JT, Arbuthnot P, Weinberg MS. (2012). Pathogenic effects of Rift Valley fever virus NSs gene are alleviated in cultured cells by expressed antiviral short hairpin RNAs. AntivirTher. 17 (4):643-56.