Description of Research Expertise

Dr. Weissman's laboratory focuses on the study of RNA and innate immune system biology and the application of these findings to vaccine research and gene therapy. There are three main projects in his laboratory. The first project began through the use of mRNA encoding antigen as a delivery system to load dendritic cells to promote broad immune responses as part of a vaccine. This project has expanded to include basic studies of RNA immunogenicity and translation and the development of applications for gene therapy. The second project develops new HIV envelope immunogens that can induce broad responses and cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies. The third project continues previous studies that identified a protein found on DC, macrophages, and epithelial cells that binds HIV envelope with high affinity. The main focus of this project is testing whether this and related molecules function in vivo to promote HIV genital tract infection.

Selected Publications

Martinez DR, Schäfer A, Leist SR, De la Cruz G, West A, Atochina-Vasserman EN, Lindesmith LC, Pardi N, Parks R, Barr M, Li D, Yount B, Saunders KO, Weissman D, Haynes BF, Montgomery SA, Baric RS.: Chimeric spike mRNA vaccines protect against Sarbecovirus challenge in mice Science : 2021.

Tombácz I, Laczkó D, Shahnawaz H, Muramatsu H, Natesan A, Yadegari A, Papp TE, Alameh MG, Shuvaev V, Mui BL, Tam YK, Muzykantov V, Pardi N, Weissman D, Parhiz H.: Highly efficient CD4+ T cell targeting and genetic recombination using engineered CD4+ cell-homing mRNA-LNP Mol Ther ol Ther : 2021.

Szőke D, Kovács G, Kemecsei É, Bálint L, Szoták-Ajtay K, Aradi P, Styevkóné Dinnyés A, Mui BL, Tam YK, Madden TD, Karikó K, Kataru RP, Hope MJ, Weissman D, Mehrara BJ, Pardi N, Jakus Z.: Nucleoside-modified VEGFC mRNA induces organ-specific lymphatic growth and reverses experimental lymphedema Nat Commun 12 : 3460,2021.

Mallory KL, Taylor JA, Zou X, Waghela IN, Schneider CG, Sibilo MQ, Punde NM, Perazzo LC, Savransky T, Sedegah M, Dutta S, Janse CJ, Pardi N, Lin PJC, Tam YK, Weissman D, Angov E.: Messenger RNA expressing PfCSP induces functional, protective immune responses against malaria in mice NPJ Vaccines 6 : 84,2021.

Shepherd SJ, Warzecha CC, Yadavali S, El-Mayta R, Alameh MG, Wang L, Weissman D, Wilson JM, Issadore D, Mitchell MJ.: Scalable mRNA and siRNA Lipid Nanoparticle Production Using a Parallelized Microfluidic Device Nano Lett : 2021.

Rizvi F, Everton E, Smith AR, Liu H, Osota E, Beattie M, Tam Y, Pardi N, Weissman D, Gouon-Evans V.: Author Correction: Murine liver repair via transient activation of regenerative pathways in hepatocytes using lipid nanoparticle-complexed nucleoside-modified mRNA Nat Commun 12 : 2825,2021.

Rothgangl T, Dennis MK, Lin PJC, Oka R, Witzigmann D, Villiger L, Qi W, Hruzova M, Kissling L, Lenggenhager D, Borrelli C, Egli S, Frey N, Bakker N, Walker JA 2nd, Kadina AP, Victorov DV, Pacesa M, Kreutzer S, Kontarakis Z, Moor A, Jinek M, Weissman D, Stoffel M, van Boxtel R, Holden K, Pardi N, Thöny B, Häberle J, Tam YK, Semple SC, Schwank G.: In vivo adenine base editing of PCSK9 in macaques reduces LDL cholesterol levels Nat Biotechnol at Biotechnol : 2021.

Knudson CJ, Alves-Peixoto P, Muramatsu H, Stotesbury C, Tang L, Lin PJC, Tam YK, Weissman D, Pardi N, Sigal LJ.: Lipid-nanoparticle-encapsulated mRNA vaccines induce protective memory CD8 T cells against a lethal viral infection Mol Ther ol Ther : 2021.

Saunders KO, Pardi N, Parks R, Santra S, Mu Z, Sutherland L, Scearce R, Barr M, Eaton A, Hernandez G, Goodman D, Hogan MJ, Tombacz I, Gordon DN, Rountree RW, Wang Y, Lewis MG, Pierson TC, Barbosa C, Tam Y, Shen X, Ferrari G, Tomaras GD, Montefiori DC, Weissman D, Haynes BF.: Lipid nanoparticle encapsulated nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccines elicit polyfunctional HIV-1 antibodies comparable to proteins in nonhuman primates NPJ Vaccines 6 : 50,2021.

Buschmann MD, Carrasco MJ, Alishetty S, Paige M, Alameh MG, Weissman D.: Nanomaterial Delivery Systems for mRNA Vaccines Vaccines (Basel) 9 : 65,2021.

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Academic Contact Information

410B Hill Pavilion
380 S University Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-573-8491