Nanomedicine seminars

Bowen Li explains how ionizable lipids are designed for lipid nanoparticles that deliver messenger RNA. The seminar covers combinatorial and machine-learning-guided design, four-component reactions for rapidly producing lipid libraries, and barcoded screening in living systems to identify formulations targeting organs and cells, including lungs, T cells and tumours. It then examines applications of AI-guided nanoparticle platforms to mRNA therapeutics. Li is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. Online via Zoom. Thursday 24 September 2026, 11:00–12:00 Eastern Daylight Time (America/New_York; UTC−4). Use Join via Zoom on Western University's event page. The stated audience includes researchers, students, alumni and the general public. Organized by Western University's Western Bioinformatics Research Seminar.

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman explain the scientific development of messenger RNA as a therapeutic platform. Their lectures address why laboratory-produced RNA can trigger inflammatory responses and how modification of its nucleosides changes immune recognition and improves protein production. The programme connects those molecular findings with the practical challenges of making RNA stable and delivering it into cells, including lipid-nanoparticle formulations. It follows the development of modified mRNA from a difficult experimental material to a foundation for vaccines and other therapeutic strategies. The lectures cover both the discovery of the relevant RNA biology and the engineering needed to make that biology useful for inducing desired proteins and immune responses.