Mike Mitchell

Thrilled to share our latest in @NatureBiotech led by @MJMitchell_Lab Postdoc Marshall Padilla in collaboration w @GuptaPenn on elucidating mRNA lipid nanoparticle structure through biophysical analyses! LNPs can have crazy shapes, see below: Free access: rdcu.be/eMmd0

As the world falls apart, so does the U.S. scientific system: >40% of NIH-funded scientists are canceling research >25% are laying off staff Two-thirds are telling students to leave academia The effects of this will be deep and felt for a very long time.

Congratulations to all co-authors: Ningqiang Gong, @JinjinWang40973, @rohan_palanki, @MgAlameh, Garima Dwivedi, Benjamin Davis, Jil Melamed, Zhangyi Luo, @Junchao_online, @CGFigE, @Lulu_Xuee, Ye Zeng, @Xuexiang_Han, @hannahyamagata, @HannahGeisler_, and @WeissmanLab!

Excited to share our latest @NatureNano led by @MJMitchell_Lab Postdoctoral Fellow @ShiQiangqiang on a new class of ionizable lipids that act as prodrugs to create an in situ vaccine within solid tumors that also eradicate distant tumors! Free access: rdcu.be/e8Lq6

In @NatureMaterials, the lab of @MJMitchell in @pennbioeng redesigned lipid nanoparticles to boost mRNA vaccine performance while reducing common inflammatory side effects, thanks to chemistry that revs up the metabolism of immune cells. bit.ly/3NdvtAC

Engineered LNPs Enhance mRNA Vaccine Efficacy, Reduce Side Effects #LNPs engineered with crosslinked ionizable lipids boost mRNA vaccine delivery, enhance #immunecell metabolism, and reduce side effects @MJMitchell_Lab @Penn #mRNAvaccine #drugdelivery hubs.li/Q04774Y_0

Congratulations to all co-authors: Ningqiang Gong, @MgAlameh, @_emilyhan_, @AmandaMMurray14, Hanxun Wang, @JinjinWang40973, Ellie Feng, @ShiQiangqiang, @KaitlinMrksich, and Drew Weissman!

Thrilled to share our latest in @NatureMaterials led by @MJMitchell_Lab Postdoctoral Fellow @DongyoonKim5 on a new class of cross-linked ionizable lipid-like materials that reprogram immune cell metabolism for potent mRNA LNP vaccines! Free access: rdcu.be/e8zQR

If you're in the Bay Area come check out @MJMitchell_Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Marshall Padilla's seminar this Monday at 11am @Stanford @Stanford_ChEMH on his work in @NatureBiotech @NatureComms on new mRNA LNP platforms + solution-based biophysics! Link: chemh.stanford.edu/events/sarafan…

Check out our latest review article in Nature Reviews Bioengineering @natrevbioeng led by Mitchell Lab MD PhD student @rohan_palanki in collaboration with Bill Peranteau at CHOP on engineering considerations for pediatric drug delivery! Free access: rdcu.be/e706U

The pipeline that drives discovery - new knowledge and treatments for diseases that affect us all - is collapsing in the United States. New NIH funding opportunities are down 91% this fiscal year.

"You have to focus on what you can do." Life advice from 2023 medicine laureate Katalin Karikó who is encouraging us all to focus on things that are within our control and pay less attention to what we can't control. For more life advice and to hear her life story, watch our full interview with her: youtu.be/X-jLB2cbdB8

Excited to share our latest in @NatureProtocols led by former @MJMitchell_Lab PhD student @SwingleKelsey (now Prof @Rice_BIOE) describing a workflow to engineer placenta mRNA lipid nanoparticles to treat pregnancy disorders! Free access to the article: rdcu.be/e7MkR

Excited to share our latest in Nature Protocols @NatureProtocols led by @MJMitchell_Lab PhD student @HannahGeisler_ describing a workflow to engineer protein-conjugated targeted LNPs for precision nucleic acid delivery! Free access to the article: rdcu.be/e7zyA

@KeChengLab @ScienceMagazine Congrats Ke and team! Beautiful work!

Congratulations to Kaiyue Zhang on the publication @ScienceMagazine. In the paper, we built an “RNA factory” on muscle for heart repair. science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

NIH is not issuing awards. You may think that it's because they it is coming up with new directions of research...The apposite is true. Here is a graph showing how many fewer new funding opportunities that NIH has posted over time. -91%, a trend that started on Jan 2025.

Federal funding for US biomedical research is moribund. Since October 1 2025, NIH is -80% in new grants and -70% in values (total dollars). Labs are closing down and researchers are leaving science. To what end?

Excited to see great colleagues and friends win major awards from @SFBiomaterials! @veiseho @JGreenGroup won the Clemson Awards for Basic and Applied Research, and my @pennbioeng office neighbor @ClaudiaLoebel won the Young Investigator Award! Link: biomaterials.org/publications/n…

Penn Engineering and @Rice_BIOE researchers refined a base-editing tool to more precisely change single DNA letters, dramatically reducing unintended “bystander” edits. Led by @XueSherryGao and Gang Bao, the work advances safer, potential therapies for cystic fibrosis and other genetic diseases. seas.upenn.edu/stories/engine…

Check out our latest @CellStemCell led @MJMitchell_Lab Postdocs @rohan_palanki @lexandrePoirier and PhD student Emily Fitzgerald on @HedtrichLab’s laser-assisted topical LNP delivery for base editing of the skin! Preview: doi.org/10.1016/j.stem… Article: doi.org/10.1016/j.stem…

Happy Lunar New Year and huge congrats to @MJMitchell_Lab Postdoctoral Fellows Soyeon Yoo and @DongyoonKim5 for being appointed Professors snd starting their own labs at Sungshin Women’s University and @yonsei_u in March! Lookout for more lab faculty announcements this spring!