Penn Launches $18 Million AI-Driven RNA Foundry to Democratize mRNA Technology Beyond Vaccines
Key Insights
The University of Pennsylvania has opened NSF AIRFoundry, an $18 million federally funded facility designed to accelerate RNA technology development using artificial intelligence and automation.
The foundry aims to lower technical barriers to RNA research, enabling applications across healthcare, agriculture, and pest control beyond the mRNA (search) vaccines pioneered at Penn.
Researchers are leveraging AI and machine learning to predict optimal lipid nanoparticle formulations for RNA delivery, reducing reliance on trial-and-error testing.
The University of Pennsylvania has officially launched a first-of-its-kind biofoundry dedicated to advancing ribonucleic acid (RNA) technology, backed by an $18 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The NSF Artificial Intelligence-driven RNA Foundry (AIRFoundry), which opened in March at One uCity Square in Philadelphia's University City, aims to democratize access to RNA design, synthesis, and delivery — extending the technology's reach far beyond the mRNA (search) vaccines that earned Penn researchers a Nobel Prize.
"We need to democratize this technology," said Daeyeon Lee, a Penn professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering who serves as the foundry's director. "We've all seen the impact of RNA technology. During the pandemic, tens of millions of lives were saved by mRNA (search) vaccines, which were invented here at Penn."
The facility builds directly on the legacy of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, whose foundational mRNA (search) research informed the development of COVID-19 (search) vaccines and earned them the 2023 Nobel Prize. Weissman has previously operated a smaller-scale version of the facility to produce mRNA for his laboratory and collaborators; the AIRFoundry represents a significant expansion beyond Penn's campus.
Lowering the Barrier to RNA Innovation
A central challenge the foundry seeks to address is the steep learning curve associated with RNA technology. "One of the challenges of RNA is that the entry barrier is fairly high," Lee explained. "If you don't know how to design RNA, synthesize RNA, or deliver RNA, it becomes very difficult to take advantage of the technology. So we wanted to lower that barrier."
The foundry currently operates on a fee-for-service basis, where collaborators request specific RNA technologies and the facility's scientists build them. The long-term vision, however, is to incorporate artificial intelligence to synthesize current knowledge, best practices, and databases — eventually enabling users to access the physical facility and use instruments themselves.
"The hope is that researchers will share their results with our AI so that it continues to improve and make better recommendations for future users," Lee said.
AI-Powered Drug Delivery Design
A key research focus within AIRFoundry involves using machine learning to accelerate the development of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulation systems — the delivery vehicles that carry RNA-based therapies into cells. Third-year graduate student Andrew Hanna, who contributes research to the center, is working to generate datasets that train predictive models for LNP design.
"Ultimately, with enough data, the hope is that you can get a head start and actually be able to predict a drug without having to do nearly as much testing," Hanna said, describing the goal of reducing trial-and-error experimentation in drug development.
Hanna noted that the foundry has facilitated collaboration across diverse fields: "There are a lot of different fields that come together in the work I'm doing, and the collaborators that I've been able to work through that have been facilitated by the Foundry have been really useful."
Beyond Human Health: Agriculture and Pest Control
The foundry's ambitions extend well beyond human therapeutics. Ongoing projects include developing vaccines to maintain fish health in aquaculture and creating RNA-based agricultural products. One collaborator is exploring methods to deliver RNA into plants that carry instructions for producing heat shock proteins — potentially protecting crops from extreme temperatures.
Because RNA degrades over time, its effects are temporary. This transient quality makes it particularly attractive for seasonal applications: an RNA treatment applied during summer months could dissipate before harvest. The same property is being investigated for pest control applications as an alternative to chemical-based pesticides.
Training the Next Generation
Lee emphasized the workforce development dimension of the initiative. "Our students and postdocs that get trained right now are going to be sort of the first generation of people to think about RNA as a tool for whatever problem they're trying to solve," he said.
The federal grant, which commenced in September 2024, funds the foundry for six years. Lee expressed hope that the facility will eventually become self-sustaining through the services it provides. The NSF has invested in five such facilities nationally, each focused on a specific biological material — Penn's being the one dedicated to RNA.
The launch comes at a politically complex moment for mRNA (search) technology. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. previously slashed $500 million designated for mRNA vaccine development, despite scientific consensus affirming the vaccines' safety and efficacy. Penn's mRNA research funding, however, was not affected by those cuts.