Dr. VanKeulen-Miller successfully defended her PhD thesis, “The Dynamic Cell as a Contextual Variable in the Mechanism and Efficacy of mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles,” under the direction of Dr. Owen Fenton!
Publications
Shelf-stable, Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Patches: Dip-and-Deliver Solutions for Personalized Wound Care. Chaudhari AP, Tabashsum Z, Khosravi P, Hensley H, Wang CJ, Moses E, Harris S, Hazelton A, Tiwade PB, VanKeulen-Miller R, Fenton OS, Sheiko A, Conlon A, Nguyen J. Bioeng. Transl. Med. Epub 2026 Mar 23; doi: 10.1002/btm2.70131.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
CORE: Cholesterol Altered Lipid Nanoparticles for Splenic Expression of mRNA Payloads. Narasipura EA, Fung V, VanKeulen-Miller R, Tiwade PB, Fenton OS. Adv Healthc Mater. 2026 Mar 28:e05862. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202505862. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41902498
Characterizing the Impact of the Cell Cycle on mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles. VanKeulen-Miller R, Aponte A, Tiwade PB, Narasipura EA, Fung V, Andersen S, Gill NA, Emanuele M, Fenton OS. J Am Chem Soc. 2026 Jan 21;148(2):2779-2791. doi: 10.1021/jacs.5c20083. Epub 2026 Jan 8. PMID: 41502411
Customizable mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles for Transfection of Primary Human T Cells. VanKeulen-Miller R, Huff J, Narasipura EA, Browne EP, Fenton OS. ACS Nano. 2025 Dec 16;19(49):41836-41849. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.5c15903. Epub 2025 Nov 25. PMID: 41289543
Non-viral mRNA cystic fibrosis therapies and their ongoing clinical trials. Gill NA, Fung V, VanKeulen-Miller R, Narasipura EA, Fenton OS. Expert Opin Drug Deliv. 2026 Mar;23(3):517-535. doi: 10.1080/17425247.2025.2586172. Epub 2025 Nov 19. PMID: 41202203
Using ‘supporting molecules’(SUMs) to improve mRNA LNP therapies. R VanKeulen-Miller, V Fung, OS Fenton. Nat. Rev. Bioeng., 2025;3(9):716-717.
mRNA lipid nanoparticle formulation, characterization and evaluation. Ma Y, VanKeulen-Miller R, Fenton OS. Nat Protoc. 2025 Sep;20(9):2618-2651. doi: 10.1038/s41596-024-01134-4. Epub 2025 Mar 11. PMID: 40069324
Customizable Polymeric Nanoparticle Materials Optimized on Hypoxic Cells Facilitate mRNA Expression in the Lungs In Vivo. Tiwade PB, Fung V, Ma Y, VanKeulen-Miller R, Narasipura EA, Fenton OS. Adv Healthc Mater. 2025 Jul;14(17):e2500245. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202500245. Epub 2025 May 27. PMID: 40420637
A Metabolite Co-Delivery Strategy to Improve mRNA Lipid Nanoparticle Delivery. Ma Y, Fung V, VanKeulen-Miller R, Tiwade PB, Narasipura EA, Gill NA, Fenton OS. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2025 May 7;17(18):26202-26215. doi: 10.1021/acsami.4c22969. Epub 2025 Apr 24. PMID: 40274610
Non-Viral RNA Therapies for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Their Corresponding Clinical Trials. Tiwade PB, Fung V, VanKeulen-Miller R, Narasipura EA, Ma Y, Fenton OS. Mol Pharm. 2025 Apr 7;22(4):1752-1774. doi: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.4c00871. Epub 2025 Mar 25. PMID: 40131145
A Chemoinformatic-Guided Synthesis of a Spleen-Expressing mRNA Lipid Nanoparticle Platform. Narasipura EA, Ma Y, Tiwade PB, VanKeulen-Miller R, Fung V, Fenton OS. Bioconjug Chem. 2025 Jan 15;36(1):54-65. doi: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.4c00419. Epub 2024 Dec 20. PMID: 39704424 [*Selected for ACS Editor’s Choice*]
A Lung-Expressing mRNA Delivery Platform with Tunable Activity in Hypoxic Environments. Tiwade PB, Ma Y, VanKeulen-Miller R, Fenton OS. J Am Chem Soc. 2024 Jun 26;146(25):17365-17376. doi: 10.1021/jacs.4c04565. Epub 2024 Jun 14. PMID: 38874565
Polyphenolic Nanoparticle Platforms (PARCELs) for In Vitro and In Vivo mRNA Delivery. Ma Y, Tiwade PB, VanKeulen-Miller R, Narasipura EA, Fenton OS. Nano Lett. 2024 May 22;24(20):6092-6101. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c01235. Epub 2024 May 10. PMID: 38728297
Messenger RNA Therapy for Female Reproductive Health. VanKeulen-Miller R, Fenton OS. Mol Pharm. 2024 Feb 5;21(2):393-409. doi: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.3c00803. Epub 2024 Jan 8. PMID: 38189262
Ongoing Clinical Trials of Nonviral siRNA Therapeutics. Narasipura EA, VanKeulen-Miller R, Ma Y, Fenton OS. Bioconjug Chem. 2023 Jul 19;34(7):1177-1197. doi: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.3c00205. Epub 2023 Jul 11. PMID: 37431859
Dr. VanKeulen-Miller is also an author on 2 accepted papers.
Patents
VanKeulen-Miller R, Narasipura EA, Huff J, Browne EP, Fenton OS, inventors; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, assignee. mRNA lipid nanoparticle formulation for targeting primary human CD4+ T cells. U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/879,035. 2025.
Ma Y, VanKeulen-Miller R, Fenton OS, inventors; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, assignee. Approaches for optimization and discovery of nanoparticles and uses thereof. U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/556,581. 2024.
Honors, Awards & Highlights
Thomas Collum Butler Award from the Department of Pharmacology in 2025 for outstanding research by a pharmacology trainee.
Pharmacological sciences T32 training grant in 2024 recipient.
Chair of Women in Science (WinS) 2024-2025.
We wish you all the best, Rachel!