A project at the Institute of Biotechnology of the VU Life Sciences Centre for the treatment of various human genetic diseases using gene therapy has won the ‚Europos burės 2022‘ (European Sails 2022) award. It was recognised as the best in the category ‚Efficiency in Medicine‘.
The VU LSC project presented a method for detecting double-stranded DNA breaks to select the best (most efficient, accurate and safe) variant of CRISPR-Cas9 nuclease.
According to the project leader, Dr Mindaugas Zaremba, CRISPR/Cas technology, the discovery of which was contributed immensely by prof. Virginijus Šikšnys from Vilnius University, raised a real revolution in the field of genome editing. This technology is adopted now for human gene therapy, for example, in the treatment of genetic diseases such as sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia, caused by the mutations in the corresponding genes. 
"In gene therapy, a "bad" gene with a mutation is replaced by a "good" gene without the mutation, thus curing the genetic disease. CRISPR/Cas enzymes act as extremely specific molecular scissors cleaving the only mutated gene in a whole human genome resulting in its correction. However, CRISPR/Cas nucleases can also cleave DNA at unintended sites causing cell death or even their transformation to cancer cells. Therefore, in order to make genome editing technology safer, we are developing a method called CLEAVE-seq to evaluate the specificity of a selected CRISPR/Cas nuclease in every particular case making personalized medicine a reality" said Dr M. Zaremba.
The award was open to projects that were able to change quickly in times of crisis, offering improved technological solutions for medicine and comprehensive healthcare services for families and society.
For the 14th time, the Kaunas State Musical Theatre presented and appreciated the projects that bring the greatest value to people, the country and the state, financed by EU funds.
Among the awarded projects there were more directly or indirectly related to GMC.
For example, in the category "Most Innovative Solutions", the award was given to the project implemented by the VU GMC start-up Delta Biosciences, which created a next-generation integrated biotechnology research platform for significantly faster drug development.
This is a highly innovative and interdisciplinary pharmaceutical R&D process that allows millions of chemical drug candidates to be screened a hundred times faster, medical molecules with the highest potential to be optimised more efficiently, and the best candidates to enter pre-clinical trials earlier.
The winners of the European Sails 2022 Awards, initiated by the Ministry of Finance, were selected by a panel of experts and presented with special statues.