E-Mail IMAGE: In their machine learning-based capsid diversification strategy, the team focused on a 28 amino acid peptide within a segment of the AAV2 VP3 capsid protein that exposes the AAV capsid... view more Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University (original by Drew Bryant) (Boston) -- Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) have become promising vehicles for delivering gene therapies to defective tissues in the human body because they are non-pathogenic and can transfer therapeutic DNA into target cells. However, while the first gene therapy products approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) use AAV vectors and others are likely to follow, AAV vectors still have not reached their full potential to meet gene therapeutic challenges.