ARTICLES BY ANNA ROSE WELCH

• Reclaiming mRNA's Story: How U.S. Policy Upheavals Are Pushing Us To Adapt

  10/2/2025

  I’d like to believe everyone reading Advancing RNA already knows that mRNA is the greatest. So, this article isn’t going to outline why the U.S. government’s current efforts to disparage mRNA are harmful. Rather, I’d like to focus on how these policies are impacting our industry in both positive and negative ways — starting with a few takeaways I gleaned from a discussion at RNA Leaders. 

• The Case for Process Simplification in mRNA Manufacturing

  9/2/2025

  Here, I wanted to share a few additional details from Parrella’s presentation about the efforts he and his team at Kernal Biologics made to improve their overall mRNA-LNP COGS. Though he emphasized the amount of opportunity that exists to improve our utilization of costly raw materials/reagents, as he revealed, there are also opportunities for process simplification.

• The Price Is… Almost Right: mRNA Edition! COGS Reduction Strategies

  8/28/2025

  The following article will outline the current state of COGS in the mRNA industry and the work he and his colleagues undertook to more effectively utilize raw materials. But heaven forbid this be your normal conference panel write-up. No, below I share Parrella’s insights, but in the form of a never-before released episode of The Price is Right…or perhaps more fittingly given the state of the industry today, this spectacle is more aptly titled: The Price is…Sort Of, Almost, Not Quite Right! 

• Translating An Early-Stage mRNA Therapeutic Into The Clinic

  8/26/2025

  In the following Q&A, Ethris CMO Thomas Langenickel shares some of his biggest questions and observations about the evolving mRNA therapeutics space that are the most impactful in translating early-stage RNA candidates into the clinic — particularly when that drug product boasts a novel formulation.

• The RNA Synthesis Spectrum: Between Solid-Phase Roots & A Hybrid Enzymatic Future

  8/20/2025

  There were two additional takeaways I had following my conversation with Kuchimanchi, each of which depicts where there still exists quite a bit of dynamism for an industry which can claim an “established” manufacturing paradigm.

• Beyond Solid-Phase Synthesis: The Momentum of Oligonucleotide Manufacturing

  8/13/2025

  Overall, there were three main takeaways I gleaned from our conversation that suggest the oligo sector, though more established than its mRNA cousin, is not comfortable with the status quo and is actively trying to grow beyond the limits of its current manufacturing paradigm. Here in part 1, we’ll start with my number one takeaway, which also comes equipped with a bit of history as to how we find ourselves at our current juncture.

• 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.