ARTICLES BY ANNA ROSE WELCH

• 5 Takeaways From The MHRA mRNA Guidance

  7/28/2025

  Having read and reread the MHRA's guidance on personalized mRNA cancer immunotherapies, the following five takeaways will function somewhat as a mind-meld, combining a few of my own thoughts/takeaways with those of the MHRA.

• Ancient Molecule, Modern Medicine: The Science, Strategy, & Stakeholders Behind tRNA Therapeutics

  7/22/2025

  As we all know well, “unearthing” our molecules’ potential poses numerous technical and business-related challenges for young biotech companies. Here, Werner and I continue our conversation, unpacking some of these internal and external challenges the company is navigating as it strives to bring tRNA to the commercial market.

• Enzymatic Ligation: The Next Chapter In siRNA Manufacturing

  7/11/2025

  During my three days at TIDES, I sat through several talks about the industry’s progress toward enzymatic ligation approaches for siRNA manufacturing. In the following article, I’ll share a few of the biggest takeaways I garnered from these different presentations, with a particular focus on the efficiencies the industry hopes such efforts unlock in the long-term. 

• Picasso, Pick-Up Lines, & Personalized Medicine: mRNA's Path Forward

  6/27/2025

  Overall, my presentation on what the mRNA industry can learn from the artist Picasso singled out a few specific areas from which I felt our industry could garner greater inspiration and operational prowess. But given how “collaborative” many of these sources of inspiration are, I’ve introduced each of my takeaways with a surprisingly relevant (albeit bad) art-themed pick-up line. After all, if there’s one sector that knows it takes more than one to “tango,” it’s the mRNA industry.

• Pictures At An [mRNA]Exhibition: What We Can Learn From Picasso (Pt. 1)

  6/20/2025

  In my presentation, I argued that there are several lessons we can learn from Picasso that will also help our own industry mature. In the upcoming weeks, I plan to unpack these lessons, highlighting specific instances in which I see our industry taking these lessons to heart and making progress — starting here with lesson 1: Being Innovative Comes After We Master The Basics

• "Raiders Of The Lost Codon:" Alltrna On Evolving "Ancient" tRNA Into Therapeutics

  5/6/2025

  Here, in part one of this two-part article, we identify how tRNA stands apart from other RNA modalities and gene therapies, as well as how this molecule’s unique “skill set” is guiding the company’s future clinical strategy.

• "Mirror, Mirror…": Reflections On Reducing mRNA Production COGS

  4/21/2025

  Here, I outline three overarching words of wisdom I gleaned from Life Edit Therapeutics’ April Sena; Tune Therapeutics’ Tyler Goodwin; and University of Sheffield’s Adi on how the mRNA/RNA industry can better control production costs — particularly as it relates to raw material sourcing and usage.  

• Plasmid Production: 3 Key Takeaways For mRNA Manufacturing

  4/14/2025

  Following my latest Live panel on analytical and manufacturing technology innovations for mRNA production, I wanted to provide a few high-level takeaways I gleaned from our discussion on the overlooked darling of the mRNA space: The plasmid. 

• Britney Spears' Take On Building Platform Analytics for mRNA Therapeutics

  4/2/2025

  As many of the presentations throughout the two-day USP quality forum revealed, we’re doing what we must to understand the benefits and the limitations of our methods. Yes, this is painstaking and expensive work. But understanding our methods is also one of the critical steps toward a future in which we can rely upon platform analytical procedures and — channeling our inner Britney Spears — say “[Ooo], I did it again!” to the regulatory agencies for each of the subsequent molecules in our pipelines.  

• Is The mRNA Payload The Real MVP of Targeted Delivery?

  3/24/2025

  As one delightfully colorful quote from a panel discussion at the AMM Ascent meeting last fall reminds us, there’s a lot more to be explored, discussed, and understood as it relates to the mRNA cargo’s role in targeted delivery.