Photo by Jeff Fusco
Nathan Ona
BS Biomedical Engineering ’22
The Co-op
I was a technician in the lab of Drew Weissman, the Roberts Family Professor for Vaccine Research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Weissman and Katalin Karikό, an adjunct professor in Neurosurgery, did years of foundational research that led to the mRNA technology employed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna to create COVID-19 vaccines. Using cell culture and mice, I investigated how lipid nanoparticles could deliver mRNA to different areas of the body. I’d formulate particles with mRNA, which would produce a bioluminescent marker. We’d measure this marker to see if the mRNA was actually delivered into the lung, the spleen or the liver. Now that I’ve been hired as a full-time research specialist at the lab, I’m learning more advanced techniques that will help the team develop new mRNA vaccines for other infectious diseases.
The Objects
This is an Eppendorf tube and a tube opener that allow us to keep the contents free from contamination and sterile. I use these items constantly, because we perform new experiments every week. Naturally, I also wear gloves!
The Takeaway
It usually takes researchers 15 to 20 years to see the fruits of their efforts. By arriving at the lab just as the COVID-19 vaccines were beginning to roll out in 2020, I got immediate gratification and saw how information has to be presented to the media and the public. It’s very exciting to be in academia, where researchers answer those smaller “whys” to figure out the bigger “why.”