Our team

Dr. Michelle L. Hastings is the Pfizer Upjohn Research Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan Medical School and directs the Nucleic Acids Therapeutics Program in the Center for RNA Biomedicine. She earned her Ph.D. from Marquette University and completed postdoctoral training at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Previously, she served as Professor and Director of the Center for Genetic Diseases at Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University. Her work focuses on RNA-based therapeutics, particularly antisense oligonucleotides that modulate splicing and gene expression in genetic and neurodegenerative disorders. Her lab has pioneered candidate therapies for Usher syndrome, Batten disease, cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease and developed an ASO medicine that is being used to treat children with an ultra-rare variant in CLN3 Batten disease. Dr. Hastings holds many patents for her discoveries and serves on multiple editorial and advisory boards. She contributes extensive experience in RNA therapeutics, translational research, and clinical development to inform strategic decision-making.