RNA Translated Magazine Highlights BME’s Connie Wu and Her Research
To read the entire article and publication, please visit the Center for RNA Biomedicine’s website.
The 2025 issue of RNA Translated, the publication produced by the U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine, features Connie Wu, Research Assistant Professor, Life Sciences Institute, and Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The article explores the ways Dr. Wu is working to improve the effectiveness of RNA in various applications, while also focusing on diagnostics in the other half of her lab, expanding the ultrasensitive single-molecule detection platforms she pioneered during her postdoctoral training and developing further bioanalytical tools.
The article also notes that Dr. Wu and her team target specific biomarker proteins found in the bloodstream, which are early indicators of certain types of cancers or predictors of treatment responses after diagnosis.
“On the RNA side of the lab, we use various RNA nanostructures as building blocks for controlled modulation of the immune system and potentially self-delivery,” she said. “The ultimate goal is to have a modular platform to tune the immune response and integrate multiple therapeutic modalities on a single framework.”
Dr. Wu added: “At the same time, we’re tackling an orthogonal challenge in the preclinical mRNA therapeutic pipeline by leveraging the ultrasensitive measurement tools from the diagnostics side of the lab. Here, the goal is to develop a platform for rapid in vivo screening of the functional delivery of mRNA therapeutic systems. Once we successfully develop this platform, we can apply it to screen large libraries of mRNA cargos and delivery vehicles to elucidate structure-function relationships and potentially accelerate preclinical RNA therapeutic development.”
To read the entire article and publication, please visit the Center for RNA Biomedicine’s website.