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Jacob Witten, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences

Witten Lab

Jacob Witten graduated from Amherst College with degrees in Biophysics and Mathematics and obtained his Ph.D. in Computational & Systems Biology at MIT under advisor Dr. Katharina Ribbeck. He completed his postdoctoral studies with Dr. Daniel Anderson in the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. There, he used a combination of deep learning and novel experimental platforms to identify lipid nanoparticles with improved mRNA and DNA delivery throughout the body, notably including state-of-the-art airway delivery. Jacob joined the Genetics department in 2026 and will be continuing to research gene therapy.

Research Information

Research Interests

A vast array of diseases could be cured or prevented by safely getting the right genes into the right cells. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of cases, we lack this capability due to significant biological barriers that make delivery challenging. The Witten Lab focusing on achieving safe, efficient, and targeted delivery of mRNA and DNA throughout the body. To achieve this, we use a synergistic mixture of AI-driven and experimental approaches to design lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) with appropriate delivery properties. We also develop novel regenerative medicine therapies for degenerative diseases, particularly lung diseases.

Publications

View Publications on Google Scholar

Selected Publications

Witten, J.*, Manan, R.*, Raji, I.*, Beyer, E., Bartlett, S., Tang, Y., Ebadi, M., Lei, J., Nguyen, D., Oladimeji, F., Jiang, A., MacDonald, E., Hu, Y., Mughal, H., Self, A., Collins, E., Yan, Z., Engelhardt, J.F., Langer, R., Anderson, D.G. (2024). Artificial intelligence-guided design of lipid nanoparticles for pulmonary gene therapy. Nature Biotechnology, doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02490-y.

 

Witten, J.*, Jiang, A*, Raji, I.*, Eweje, F., MacIsaac, C., Oladimeji, F., Langer, R., Anderson, D. (2023). Combinatorial development of nebulized mRNA delivery formulations for the lungs. Nature Nanotechnology, 1-12.

*Co-first authors