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ChristianaCare Gene Editing Institute’s Amanda Hewes Selected as a 2023 Outstanding Delaware Woman in STEM by Million Women Mentors

Hewes was among honorees at a special event held at Delaware Legislative Hall

Amanda Hewes, MS, education program manager at ChristianaCare’s Gene Editing Institute, has been named one of the 2023 Outstanding Delaware Women in STEM by Million Women Mentors, an international movement dedicated to encouraging girls and women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

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Hewes’ selection spotlights her dedication to engaging young people in the science of gene editing by introducing the Gene Editing Institute’s CRISPR in a BoxTM educational toolkit into classrooms across Delaware and her commitment to bridging disparities in STEM education.

“I’m overjoyed to be honored among so many amazing women in this state,” Hewes said. “It’s humbling to be considered and to stand alongside them. All of these women foster and lead dynamic communities of young women that inspire me every day. I hope that I can do the same by making young women in this state feel empowered through the work that I do.”

Hewes joined ChristianaCare’s Gene Editing Institute in 2017 with a focus on expanding its CRISPR gene editing system in a cell-free environment. She was first author in a publication in Nature that established the highly innovative “gene editing on a chip” protocol that allowed CRISPR to edit DNA outside of the cell for the first time. This methodology enables researchers to take fragments of DNA extracted from human cells, place them in a test tube and precisely engineer multiple changes to the genetic code.

This gene editing system eventually led to the creation of the CRISPR in a Box™ toolkit. This innovative educational resource provides a way for students to learn about this exciting frontier of science through a hands-on exercise in which they use CRISPR gene editing to disrupt a synthetic gene within a plasmid. The simplicity of this experiment allowed for the reaction to be developed into a remarkable teaching tool that can be brought into most school laboratories containing basic laboratory equipment.

Once CRISPR in a Box™ was developed, Hewes recognized the potential it could have for high school and college students. She took on a new role as education program manager and expanded the Gene Editing 360™ platform, which is the Gene Editing Institute’s suite of educational tools for engaging students and the public.

“Amanda has set us on a tremendous path toward providing more educational opportunities for Delaware students,” said Eric Kmiec, Ph.D., director of ChristianaCare’s Gene Editing Institute. “She’s inspired young women in multiple states and has created so much of this program with her own ingenuity and passion.”

Hewes was honored alongside 10 other women by Gov. John Carney, Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long and others at the Delaware State House with the signing of a proclamation to declare March 24, 2023, as “Delaware Women and Girls in STEM Day.”

     

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About ChristianaCare

Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,430 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute.

ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as the 2nd best health system for diversity and inclusion, and the 29th best health system to work for in the United States, and by IDG Computerworld as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is rated by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals and continually ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and other national quality ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.

About the ChristianaCare Gene Editing Institute

The Gene Editing Institute, a wholly owned subsidiary of ChristianaCare, is a worldwide leader in CRISPR gene editing technology and the only institute of its kind based within a community health care system. The Gene Editing Institute takes a patient-first approach in its research to improve the lives of people with cancer and inherited diseases. Its education and outreach team are preparing the next generation of gene editing scientists through its on-site Learning Lab and immersive CRISPR in A Box™ teaching toolkit. Since 2015, researchers at the Gene Editing Institute have been involved in several ground-breaking firsts in the field that will help bring treatments to patients quickly and safely. Its researchers are currently investigating how best to use CRISPR-directed gene editing to overcome cancer drug resistance that develops in virtually all solid tumors and establish a “plug-and-play” model to treat lung and other cancers. The Gene Editing Institute, working with its spin out company CorriXR Therapeutics, will seek approval from the FDA to start clinical trials in humans in 2025.

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