Jackson Laboratory joins two other nonprofits to launch center to treat rare genetic diseases
Maine Public |
By
Patty Wight
Published July 22, 2026 at 5:22 PM EDT
Bill Trotter
/
via BDN
Bar Harbor-based Jackson Laboratory is partnering with Boston Children’s Hospital and the Broad Institute in Massachusetts to launch a nonprofit center to treat rare genetic diseases
Cat Lutz of the Jackson Lab says the Center for Therapeutic Genetics will use recent advances in genetic medicine to develop treatments. And the work will focus on rare diseases that often affect just a handful of people
“The idea that these three nonprofit institutions can come together and do not only what biotech and pharmaceutical companies can’t do, but we can do it together in a way that I think has meaning for so many of the patients that have been waiting for such a long time is really, really quite exciting,” she says
Lutz says millions of people worldwide live with one of 8,000 rare diseases, and more than half are children
The Center recently received a $34 million federal grant to develop treatments for children with rare forms of genetic epilepsies
It’s still in its founding phase, but the goal is for the Center to treat its first patient within two years and develop a series of treatment programs over time
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