Faculty

Drew Weissman, M.D., Ph.D.

Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research

Department: Medicine

Graduate Group Affiliations

Contact information

410B Hill Pavilion
380 S University Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Office: (215) 573-8491

Email:
dreww@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Publications

Search PubMed for articles

Education:
B.A., M.A. (Biochemistry/Enzymology)
Brandeis University, 1981.
M.D. Ph.D. (Immunology/Microbiology)
Boston University, 1987.

Links
Search PubMed for articles
Immunology graduate group faculty webpage.
Cell and Molecular Biology graduate group faculty webpage.

Permanent link

> Perelman School of Medicine > Faculty > Details

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

Haynes BF, Wiehe K, Alam SM, Weissman D, Saunders KO.: Progress with induction of HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies in the Duke Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development. Curr Opin HIV AIDS 18: 300-308, Nov 2023.

Pine M, Arora G, Hart TM, Bettini E, Gaudette BT, Muramatsu H, Tombácz I, Kambayashi T, Tam YK, Brisson D, Allman D, Locci M, Weissman D, Fikrig E, Pardi N.: Development of an mRNA-lipid nanoparticle vaccine against Lyme disease. Mol Ther 31: 2702-2714, Sep 2023.

Shepherd, SJ, Han, XX, Mukalel, AJ, El-Mayta, R, Thatte, AS, Wu, JY, Padilla, MS, Alameh, MG, Srikumar, N, Lee, D, Weissman, D, Issadore, D, Mitchell, MJ: Throughput- scalable manufacturing of SARS- CoV-2 mRNA lipid nanoparticle vaccines. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 120(33), AUG 15 2023.

Shepherd SJ, Han X, Mukalel AJ, El-Mayta R, Thatte AS, Wu J, Padilla MS, Alameh MG, Srikumar N, Lee D, Weissman D, Issadore D, Mitchell MJ.: Throughput-scalable manufacturing of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA lipid nanoparticle vaccines. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 120: e2303567120, Aug 2023.

Hayashi CTH, Cao Y, Clark LC, Tripathi AK, Zavala F, Dwivedi G, Knox J, Alameh MG, Lin PJC, Tam YK, Weissman D, Kumar N.: Author Correction: mRNA-LNP expressing PfCSP and Pfs25 vaccine candidates targeting infection and transmission of Plasmodium falciparum. NPJ Vaccines 8: 115, Aug 2023.

Hamilton, AG, Swingle, KL, Joseph, RA, Mai, D, Gong, NQ, Billingsley, MM, Alameh, MG, Weissman, D, Sheppard, NC, June, CH, Mitchell, MJ: Ionizable Lipid Nanoparticles with Integrated Immune Checkpoint Inhibition for mRNA CAR T Cell Engineering. Advanced Healthcare Materials AUG 31 2023.

Hayashi, CTH, Cao, Y, Clark, LC, Tripathi, AK, Zavala, F, Dwivedi, G, Knox, J, Alameh, MG, Lin, PJC, Tam, YK, Weissman, D, Kumar, N: mRNA-LNP expressing PfCSP and Pfs25 vaccine candidates targeting infection and transmission of Plasmodium falciparum (vol 7, 155, 2022). Npj Vaccines 8(1), AUG 11 2023.

Matias, J, Cui, YJ, Tang, XT, Sajid, A, Arora, G, Wu, MJ, DePonte, K, Muramatsu, H, Tam, YK, Narasimhan, S, Pardi, N, Weissman, D, Fikrig, E: Specific mRNA lipid nanoparticles and acquired resistance to ticks. Vaccine 41(34): 4996-5002, JUL 31 2023.

Nong, J, Glassman, PM, Myerson, JW, Zuluaga-Ramirez, V, Rodriguez-Garcia, A, Mukalel, A, Omo-Lamai, S, Walsh, LR, Zamora, ME, Gong, XJ, Wang, ZC, Bhamidipati, K, Kiseleva, RY, Villa, CH, Greineder, CF, Kasner, SE, Weissman, D, Mitchell, MJ, Muro, S, Persidsky, Y, Brenner, JS, Muzykantov, VR, Marcos-Contreras, OA: Targeted Nanocarriers Co-Opting Pulmonary Intravascular Leukocytes for Drug Delivery to the Injured Brain. Acs Nano 17(14): 13121-13136, JUL 11 2023.

Palanki, R, Bose, SK, Dave, A, White, BM, Berkowitz, C, Luks, V, Yaqoob, F, Han, EMY, Swingle, KL, Menon, P, Hodgson, E, Biswas, A, Billingsley, MM, Li, L, Yiping, F, Carpenter, M, Trokhan, A, Yeo, JL, Johana, N, Wan, TY, Alameh, MG, Bennett, FC, Storm, PB, Jain, R, Chan, JRY, Weissman, D, Mitchell, MJ, Peranteau, WH: Ionizable Lipid Nanoparticles for Therapeutic Base Editing of Congenital Brain Disease. Acs Nano 17(14): 13594-13610, JUL 17 2023.