Steven Gray, Ph.D.
Titles and Appointments
Professor
- School
- Medical School
- Department
- Pediatrics | Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development | Molecular Biology | Neurology
- Graduate Programs
- Genetics, Development and Disease
Dr. Steven Gray received a B.S. degree with honors from Auburn University followed by a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Vanderbilt University and postdoctoral training at the UNC Chapel Hill Gene Therapy Center. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Gray is the co-director of the UTSW Gene Therapy Program and director of the UTSW Viral Vector Facility. He maintains affiliations with the Department of Molecular Biology, the Department of Neurology, and the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development at UT Southwestern.
Dr. Gray’s core expertise is in AAV gene therapy vector engineering, followed by optimizing approaches to deliver a gene to the nervous system. His major focus is in AAV vector development to develop vectors tailored to serve specific clinical and research applications involving the nervous system. These include the development of novel AAV capsids amenable to widespread CNS gene transfer. As AAV-based platform gene transfer technologies have been developed to achieve global, efficient, and in some cases cell-type specific CNS gene delivery, his research focus has also included preclinical studies to apply these reagents toward the development of treatments for neurological diseases. Currently these have resulted in approved and ongoing human clinical trials to test gene therapies for the following disorders: Rett Syndrome, Giant Axonal Neuropathy (GAN), Tay-Sachs, Sandhoff, Spastic Paraplegia Type 50, and Batten Diseases (CLN1, CLN5, and CLN7).
Dr. Gray has published over 90 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, Molecular Therapy, Brain, Journal of Clinical Investigations, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He also has over 20 pending or awarded patents. His research is funded by the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, as well as numerous large and small research foundations and industry partners. Dr. Gray was recognized with the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy’s Outstanding Young Investigator Award in 2019, the 2016 Healthcare Hero award by the Triangle Business Journal, and his work on GAN was featured in a story by the CBS National Evening News in 2015.
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