The Asokan Lab engineers biological macromolecules and viruses for human gene therapy. We study the biology of Adeno-Associated Viruses (AAV) and use cutting edge molecular evolution strategies to discover new synthetic viral strains with improved function. In parallel, we study and engineer the AAV genome with a focus on molecular and regulatory elements, especially RNA transcription and splicing. Recently, our efforts have been focused on utilizing this synthetic viral toolkit for therapeutic discovery in neuromuscular and cardiovascular disease. Our overarching goal is to build transformative technologies to enable the clinical translation of genetic medicines.