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

Papp TE, Zeng J, Shahnawaz H, Akyianu A, Breda L, Yadegari A, Steward J, Shi R, Li Q, Mui BL, Tam YK, Weissman D, Rivella S, Shuvaev V, Muzykantov VR, Parhiz H.: CD47 peptide-cloaked lipid nanoparticles promote cell-specific mRNA delivery. Mol Ther 33: 3195-3208, Jul 2025.

Gong N, Kim D, Alameh MG, El-Mayta R, Han EL, Dwivedi G, Palanki R, Shi Q, Han X, Xue L, Xu J, Meng Z, Luo T, Figueroa-Espada CG, Weissman D, Li J, Mitchell MJ.: Mannich reaction-based combinatorial libraries identify antioxidant ionizable lipids for mRNA delivery with reduced immunogenicity. Nat Biomed Eng Jul 2025.

Shuvaev VV, Tam YK, Lee BW, Myerson JW, Herbst A, Kiseleva RY, Glassman PM, Parhiz H, Alameh MG, Pardi N, Muramatsu H, Shuvaeva TI, Arguiri E, Marcos-Contreras OA, Hood ED, Brysgel TV, Nong J, Papp TE, Eaton DM, Riley R, Palanki R, Musunuru K, Brenner JS, Mitchell MJ, Ferrari VA, Mui BL, Semple SC, Weppler SA, Atluri P, Margulies KB, Weissman D, Muzykantov VR.: Systemic delivery of biotherapeutic RNA to the myocardium transiently modulates cardiac contractility in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 122: e2409266122, Jul 2025.

Zabala-Peñafiel A, Gonzalez-Lombana C, Alameh MG, Sacramento LA, Mou Z, Phan AT, Aunins EA, Tam YK, Uzonna JE, Weissman D, Hunter CA, Scott P.: IL-12 mRNA-LNP promotes dermal resident memory CD4(+) T cell development. NPJ Vaccines 10: 154, Jul 2025.

Aunins EA, Phan AT, Alameh MG, Dwivedi G, Cruz-Morales E, Christian DA, Tam Y, Bunkofske ME, Peñafiel AZ, O'Dea KM, Merolle M, Furey C, Scott P, Vonderheide RH, Hensley SE, Kedl RM, Weissman D, Hunter CA.: An Il12 mRNA-LNP adjuvant enhances mRNA vaccine-induced CD8 T cell responses. Sci Immunol 10: eads1328, Jun 2025.

Arshad M, Atochina-Vasserman EN, Maurya DS, Lu J, Ona N, Vasserman JA, McWilliams BC, Ni H, Berkihiser S, Park WJ, Weissman D, Percec V.: Harnessing the Electron-Withdrawing Inductive Effect of One-Component Ionizable Amphiphilic Janus Dendrimers Unveils Cation-π Interactions and Their Important Roles to Targeted mRNA Delivery. J Am Chem Soc 147: 21347-21356, Jun 2025.

Malewana RD, Stalls V, May A, Lu X, Martinez DR, Schäfer A, Li D, Barr M, Sutherland LL, Lee E, Parks R, Beck WE, Newman A, Bock KW, Minai M, Nagata BM, DeMarco CT, Denny TN, Oguin TH 3rd, Rountree W, Wang Y, Mansouri K, Edwards RJ, Smith L, Sempowski GD, Eaton A, Muramatsu H, Henderson R, Tam Y, Barbosa C, Tang J, Cain DW, Santra S, Moore IN, Andersen H, Lewis MG, Golding H, Seder R, Khurana S, Montefiori DC, Pardi N, Weissman D, Baric RS, Acharya P, Haynes BF, Saunders KO.: Nonstabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike mRNA vaccination induces broadly neutralizing antibodies in nonhuman primates. Sci Transl Med 17: eadn5651, Jun 2025.

Nakamichi S, von Muhlinen N, Yamada L, Melamed JR, Papp TE, Parhiz H, Weissman D, Horikawa I, Harris CC.: SRSF3 knockdown-induced cellular senescence as a possible therapeutic strategy for non-small cell lung cancer. bioRxiv May 2025.

Surisaeng T, Wisitrasameewong W, Champaiboon C, Sa-Ard-Iam N, Chanamuangkon T, Thongnuek P, Tam YK, Muramatsu H, Weissman D, Pardi N, Pichyangkul S, Mahanonda R.: BMP-2 mRNA-transfected BMSCs promote superior calvarial bone regeneration. Sci Rep 15: 15022, Apr 2025.

Blizard GS, Dwivedi G, Pan YG, Hou C, Etersque JM, Said H, Chevrier A, Lavertu M, Ni H, Davis B, Tam Y, Cao Q, Mach RH, Weissman D, Alameh MG, Sellmyer MA.: Monitoring mRNA vaccine antigen expression in vivo using PET/CT. Nat Commun 16: 2234, Mar 2025.