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

Cui Y, Cibichakravarthy B, Tang X, Alameh MG, Dwivedi G, Weissman D, Fikrig E.: Salp14 epitope-based mRNA vaccination induces early recognition of a tick bite Vaccine 42 : 126304,2024.

Li Q, Shi R, Xu H, AboulFotouh K, Sung MMH, Oguin TH, Hayes M, Moon C, Dao HM, Ni H, Sahakijpijarn S, Cano C, Davenport GJ, Williams RO 3rd, Le Huray J, Cui Z, Weissman D.: Thin-film freeze-drying of an influenza virus hemagglutinin mRNA vaccine in unilamellar lipid nanoparticles with blebs J Control Release : 2024.

Hajnik RL, Plante JA, Reddy Bonam S, Rafael GH, Liang Y, Hazell NC, Walker J, Reyna RA, Walker DH, Alameh MG, Weissman D, Weaver SC, Plante KS, Hu H.: Broad protection and respiratory immunity of dual mRNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 variants NPJ Vaccines 9 : 160,2024.

Gong N, Zhong W, Alameh MG, Han X, Xue L, El-Mayta R, Zhao G, Vaughan AE, Qin Z, Xu F, Hamilton AG, Kim D, Xu J, Kim J, Teng X, Li J, Liang XJ, Weissman D, Guo W, Mitchell MJ.: Tumour-derived small extracellular vesicles act as a barrier to therapeutic nanoparticle delivery Nat Mater : 2024.

Mu Z, Whitley J, Martik D, Sutherland L, Newman A, Barr M, Parks R, Wiehe K, Cain DW, Hodges KZ, Venkatayogi S, Lee EM, Smith L, Mansouri K, Edwards RJ, Wang Y, Rountree W, Alameh M-G, Tam Y, Barbosa C, Tomai M, Lewis MG, Santrai S, Maughan M, Tian M, Alt FW, Weissman D, Saunders KO, Haynes BF.: Comparison of the immunogenicity of mRNA-encoded and protein HIV-1 Env-ferritin nanoparticle designs J Virol 98 : e0013724,2024.

Palanki R, Riley JS, Bose SK, Luks V, Dave A, Kus N, White BM, Ricciardi AS, Swingle KL, Xue L, Sung D, Thatte AS, Safford HC, Chaluvadi VS, Carpenter M, Han EL, Maganti R, Hamilton AG, Mrksich K, Billingsley MB, Zoltick PW, Alameh MG, Weissman D, Mitchell MJ, Peranteau WH.: In utero delivery of targeted ionizable lipid nanoparticles facilitates in vivo gene editing of hematopoietic stem cells Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 121 : e2400783121,2024.

Chappell ME, Breda L, Tricoli L, Guerra A, Jarocha DJ, Castruccio Castracani C, Papp TE, Tanaka N, Hamilton N, Triebwasser MP, Ghiaccio V, Fedorky M, Gollomp K, Bochenek V, Roche AM, Everett JK, Cook EJ, Bushman FD, Teawtrakul N, Glentis S, Kattamis A Prof, Mui BL, Tam YK, Weissman D, Abdulmalik O, Parhiz H, Rivella S.: Use of HSC Targeted LNP to Generate a Mouse Model of Lethal α-Thalassemia and Treatment via Lentiviral Gene Therapy Blood 1 : 2023023349,2024.

Han X, Alameh MG, Gong N, Xue L, Ghattas M, Bojja G, Xu J, Zhao G, Warzecha CC, Padilla MS, El-Mayta R, Dwivedi G, Xu Y, Vaughan AE, Wilson JM, Weissman D, Mitchell MJ.: Fast and facile synthesis of amidine-incorporated degradable lipids for versatile mRNA delivery in vivo Nat Chem : 2024.

Guenaga J, Alirezaei M, Feng Y, Alameh MG, Lee WH, Baboo S, Cluff J, Wilson R, Bale S, Ozorowski G, Lin P, Tam Y, Diedrich JK, Yates JR 3rd, Paulson JC, Ward AB, Weissman D, Wyatt RT.: mRNA lipid nanoparticles expressing cell-surface cleavage independent HIV Env trimers elicit autologous tier-2 neutralizing antibodies Front Immunol 15 : 1426232,2024.

Yanik S, Venkatesh V, Gordy JT, Gabriel-Alameh M, Meza J, Li Y, Glass E, Flores-Garcia Y, Tam Y, Chaiyawong N, Sarkar D, Weissman D, Markham R, Srinivasan P.: Immature dendritic cell-targeting mRNA vaccine expressing PfCSP enhances protective immune responses against Plasmodium liver infection Res Sq : 2024.

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Academic Contact Information

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