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ESTEBAN ENGEL: As the global population is aging,
there's an increasing number of 
neuro-degenerative diseases that remain untreated.
The technology we have developed can be used 
to deliver genes to all neurons in the nervous system.
We just piggyback on a virus
to deliver new information into cells.
What we innovated is to use a fragment of DNA
called a gene promoter
that is much smaller than the promoters 
being used today.
In some diseases, the gene that has to be fixed
is large in size,
and with the currently used gene promoters
that are also quite large,
it was not possible to include that into the payload.
With our engineered viruses, the promoter is so small that there's more room
and this allows us to deliver larger genes 
or multiple small genes.
A problem with promoters regardless of their size,
is that they shut off after a few weeks or a few months,
and when you're giving gene therapy, 
you want that to be long-lasting.
With our engineered viruses, genes can remain active
for as long as they're needed.
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