Biotechnology researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) are working to further improve mRNA therapeutics, with the aim of reducing manufacturing costs and enabling additional therapeutic uses for mRNA technology.  

The team’s work will focus on improving mRNA manufacturing. Synthetizing mRNA vaccines involves a series of complex chemical reactions. Those reactions create the finished vaccine mRNA molecule. This molecule has a series of key features that define its function, stabilize the fragile molecule, and ensure its effectiveness inside the body while also preventing the immune system from attacking it.  

Over the course of three years, this RPI project will be funded by BioNTech, whose mRNA technology was used to develop one of the first authorized COVID-19 vaccines.  

“Our work aims to make it more economical not only to produce mRNA vaccines but also to use mRNA technology in future medical applications, such as cancer, infectious diseases, and other serious diseases, which is very exciting. We are grateful to BioNTech for the opportunity to help advance this field,” said Georges Belfort, Ph.D., Institute Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the project’s principal investigator.  

The research team also includes co-principal investigators Pankaj Karande, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Chip Kilduff, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. All three are members of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. Graduate students Claudia (Mengyang) Hu, Riddhi Banik, and Thomas Neuman contributed to the successful proposal and are now actively working on this research.

“mRNA technology saved many lives during the COVID-19 pandemic and could transform medicine and human health in the future. Thanks to the work of professors Belfort, Karande, Kilduff, and the graduate students this innovation can take an important step toward reaching its full potential and helping people live healthier lives around the globe,” said Shekhar Garde, Ph.D., dean of the RPI School of Engineering.