Drew Weissman

Education and Training

MEDICAL SCHOOL

Boston University School of Medicine

RESIDENCY

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

FELLOWSHIP

National Institutes of Health

Programs and Centers

Penn Medicine's programs and centers combine doctors from many disciplines to coordinate care from start to finish. Dr. Weissman is part of these programs:

Penn Infectious Diseases Program

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

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): 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 : 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): 4996-5002,2023.

Egan, KP, Awasthi, S, Tebaldi, G, Hook, LM, Naughton, AM, Fowler, BT, Beattie, M, Alameh, MG, Weissman, D, Cohen, GH, Friedman, HM: A Trivalent HSV-2 gC2, gD2, gE2 Nucleoside-Modified mRNA-LNP Vaccine Provides Outstanding Protection in Mice against Genital and Non-Genital HSV-1 Infection, Comparable to the Same Antigens Derived from HSV-1 Viruses-basel 15 (7): 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): 13121-13136,2023.

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): 13594-13610,2023.

Chuang, YM, Alameh, MG, Abouneameh, S, Raduwan, H, Ledizet, M, Weissman, D, Fikrig, E: A mosquito AgTRIO mRNA vaccine contributes to immunity against malaria Npj Vaccines 8 (1): 2023.

Lu, JC, Atochina-Vasserman, EN, Maurya, DS, Shalihin, MI, Zhang, DP, Chenna, SS, Adamson, J, Liu, MT, Shah, HUR, Shah, HE, Xiao, Q, Queeley, B, Ona, NA, Reagan, EK, Ni, HP, Sahoo, D, Peterca, M, Weissman, D, Percec, V: Screening Libraries to Discover Molecular Design Principles for the Targeted Delivery of mRNA with One-Component Ionizable Amphiphilic Janus Dendrimers Derived from Plant Phenolic Acids Pharmaceutics 15 (6): 2023.

Prompetchara E, Ketloy C, Alameh MG, Tharakhet K, Kaewpang P, Yostrerat N, Pitakpolrat P, Buranapraditkun S, Manopwisedjaroen S, Thitithanyanont A, Jongkaewwattana A, Hunsawong T, Im-Erbsin R, Reed M, Wijagkanalan W, Patarakul K, Techawiwattanaboon T, Palaga T, Lam K, Heyes J, Weissman D, Ruxrungtham K.: Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine encoding secreted non-stabilized spike in female mice Nat Commun 14 : 2309,2023.

Furey C, Ye N, Kercher L, DeBeauchamp J, Crumpton JC, Jeevan T, Patton C, Franks J, Alameh MG, Fan SHY, Phan AT, Hunter CA, Webby RJ, Weissman D, Hensley SE.: Development of a nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine against clade 2.3.4.4b H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus bioRxiv : 2023.