Former Vol develops cure for Sickle Cell Anemia in infants

Around 1,000 babies are born each year in the United States with sickle cell anemia. An inherited condition, it causes regularly round red blood cells to take on a sickle shape and die early, leaving a shortage of healthy red blood cells, blocking blood flow, and causing fatigue and pain, strokes, and a shortened life span. And one University of Tennessee, Knoxville alumnus may be close to finding a treatment that can avert the disorder in infants before it begins.

As a professor and researcher of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Tim Townes ('73,...