This year, the first-ever CRISPR-based gene therapy was approved for use in sickle cell disease patients. While this is a powerful example of how gene therapies are transforming treatments, the field still faces a major challenge: creating safe delivery vehicles that can send gene therapies to the right cells in the right organs. One promising option is deactivated viruses. Shai will use her BroadIgnite funding to leverage machine-learning approaches and create a pipeline for engineering new and robust viral delivery vehicles that can be easily targeted to specific cell types—improving gene therapy efficacy and reducing side effects.