Penn Medicine mRNA Vaccine Technology Pioneer and Health Policy Experts Join Together to Discuss COVID Vaccine Emergency Use Authorization Plans

PHILADELPHIA—Through research conducted in Penn laboratories beginning decades ago, Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, a professor of Infectious Diseases in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Katalin Kariko, PhD, an adjunct associate professor at Penn and a senior vice president at BioNTech, discovered in the early 2000s that introducing certain chemical modifications into messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) molecules can greatly increase its therapeutic potential—a discovery that plays a critical role in two of the leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates that rely on the use modified mRNA being separately  developed by Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech.

On Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, Penn Medicine will host a virtual event where Dr. Weissman will discuss the science and impact of the groundbreaking research that resulted in this fundamental discovery about mRNA biology that has helped pave a path to these new modified mRNA vaccines soon to be deployed in the global fight against COVID-19. He will also discuss the potential future opportunities for use of modified mRNA in immunotherapies, personalized cancer vaccines, and more. Dr. Weissman will be joined by immunologist E. John Wherry, PhD, chair of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics and director of the Institute for Immunology, discussing the ways in which the pandemic has increased collaboration between scientists at the bench and clinicians at the bedside, and his COVID-19 immunology research into how and why the disease affects people so differently and how the immune response to vaccines may vary.

Following Drs. Weissman and Wherry, Jonathan A. Epstein, MD, executive vice dean, chief scientific officer and professor of Cardiovascular Research, will join the conversation with questions.

Additional Penn health policy and epidemiology experts — including two members of the Operation Warp Speed Advisory Committee — will discuss the EUA committee meetings, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the vaccine regulatory landscape, the EUA process for vaccine authorizations and its history, and policy and research implications moving forward.