Prior to working at Pitt, Dr. Byrne engineered next-generation AAV viruses for gene therapy in the retina, developed high throughput methods for directed evolution of viral vectors, and created therapies for inherited retinal degenerations affecting photoreceptors and RPE.
Dr. Byrne has served as an Associate Scientific Advisor for Science Translational Medicine, and holds patents on viral vectors and methods for the development of viral vectors for gene therapy. She is also the co-founder and chief scientific officer of Avista Therapeutics, a company working to develop gene therapies for retinal degeneration.
- Ford Foundation Fellow, University of Pennsylvania
- Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California Berkeley
- University of California Berkeley, PhD in Neuroscience
- J. William Fulbright Fellow at Karolinksa Institutet
- Hamilton College, BA in Neuroscience
Education & Training
The Byrne Lab develops gene-based approaches, including viral vector-mediated gene delivery and genome editing, to interrogate the biology underlying retinal disease and treat inherited blindness.