Drew Weissman

Drew Weissman, M.D., Ph.D., is the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research, Director Penn Institute for RNA Innovation, and Director of Vaccine Research, Infectious Diseases Division in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Weissman, in collaboration with Dr. Katalin Karikó, discovered that modified nucleosides in RNA could suppress activation of innate immune sensors thereby resulting in an increased mRNA translation. The nucleoside-modified mRNA-lipid nanoparticle vaccine platform created in Dr. Weissman’s lab is now being used in the first two FDA-approved mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines that were developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, and his lab is actively working to develop new mRNA–based vaccines that induce potent antibody and T cell responses.