Nobel Prize in medicine won by two scientists for ‘groundbreaking findings’ on mRNA Covid-19 vaccines



For their work on mRNA vaccines, a vital weapon in halting the spread of Covid-19, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have been given this year's Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

On Monday, the Nobel Prize committee made the famous announcement in Sweden, which is regarded as the pinnacle of scientific achievement.



The committee acknowledged the researchers' "groundbreaking findings," which it stated "fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system."



In 2005, Karikó and Weissman published their findings in a study that attracted little notice at the time but eventually benefitted humanity during the coronavirus epidemic by laying the groundwork for vitally significant advancements.

"The laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times," the committee continued in a statement.
A member of the Nobel Prize in Medicine selection committee named Rickard Sandberg stated, "mRNA vaccines and other Covid-19 vaccines have been given more than 13 billion times. Together, they have averted severe COVID-19, decreased the global disease load, and let society to once again open up.


Weissman, an American physician, and Karikó, a biochemist who is Hungarian-American, are both professors at the University of Pennsylvania. Their research served as the basis for a novel method used by Pfizer, Moderna, and its German-based partner BioNTech to create vaccines that use messenger RNA, or mRNA.

A new chapter in medical history has been started by the innovative technology. Potentially, it might be used to create vaccinations for diseases including malaria, RSV, and HIV. With the possibility of tailored vaccines, it also offers a novel strategy for infectious diseases like cancer.

Message-Ring RNA
Researchers frequently liken DNA to a huge cookbook that contains all the directions for life. Messenger RNA, which functions something like a handwritten copy of a recipe in the cookbook comparison, is a transitory single strand of the genetic code that cells may "read" and use to produce a protein.


With mRNA vaccines, the body responds by producing antibodies and specialized immune system cells by instructing cells to manufacture an object that resembles a bit of a virus. A live or attenuated virus is not injected or necessary at any stage, in contrast to conventional vaccines.
The genetic sequence is all that is required. Just the sequence of the virus is enough for vaccine creators.
According to the Nobel committee, "the impressive flexibility and speed with which mRNA vaccines can be developed pave the way for using the new platform also for vaccines against other infectious diseases," and that the technology "may also be used to deliver therapeutic proteins and treat some cancer types."



The work of the scientists, according to J. Larry Jameson, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, "changed the world."

Jameson said in a statement that "during the biggest public health crisis of our lifetimes, vaccine developers relied upon the discoveries by Dr. Weissman and Dr. Karikó, which saved countless lives and paved a path out of the pandemic." "More than 15 years after their forward-thinking lab collaboration, Kati and Drew have left an everlasting imprint on medicine," says the statement.



The announcements for the Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, literature, and economics started on Monday in Sweden and will go on all this week and into the following. On Friday, Norway will reveal the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.


The Nobel Prize journey
In the 1970s, when mRNA research was in its infancy, Karikó, now 68, started her profession in her home Hungary. She accepted an invitation from Philadelphia's Temple University, and soon after, she, her husband, and their little daughter went for the country. According to Karikó, they sold their automobile and put the proceeds, which amounted to roughly $1,200, in their daughter's teddy bear as a safety deposit.


When asked about her family's departure, Karikó said, "We had just moved into our new apartment, our daughter was 2 years old, everything was so good, we were happy." But we needed to leave.


In the Staten Island neighborhood of New York City, on April 16, 2021, syringes with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine were arranged on a table at a temporary vaccination clinic held at the Jewish Community Center. (Image courtesy of AFP/Angela Weiss) 

With coronavirus resistance already established, mRNA is capable of much more.

Before enrolling in the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 19xx, she continued her research at Temple. But by that time, the early enthusiasm for mRNA research had begun to fade. As Karikó's suggestion that it may be utilized to fight disease was deemed too radical and financially risky to fund, optimism gave way to doubt.

She applied for grant after grant, but a run of denials caused her to lose her job at UPenn in 1995. She also received a cancer diagnosis at the same time.

In an interview with CNN given during the pandemic in December 2020, Karikó said, "It was difficult because people did not believe that messenger RNA can be a therapy."



But she persisted. "At the University of Pennsylvania, Drew Weissman and I created a technique whereby we altered one element of the RNA to reduce its immunogenicity. According to Karikó, it can be used for a variety of therapeutic procedures.

While copying research papers in the late 1990s, Karikó and Weissman happened to cross paths. They published their major finding in 2005: mRNA could be modified and effectively transported into the body to activate the immune system.

Karikó, Katalin cpt 12/14/2020 vpx

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Scientist describes her celebration of productive vaccine testing.

Weissman told CNN that compared to conventional vaccine production methods, their technology is far more effective.



"We began the process of synthesizing RNA the day after the Chinese published the SARS-CoV-2 virus sequence. We started administering the vaccination to animals a few weeks later, he said.

When the trials done by Pfizer and Moderna were successful, Karikó stated that she was not at all shocked. We had previously conducted enough experiments, so I assumed it would work, she added.



She rewarded herself with a bag of her favorite candy, Goobers, chocolate-covered peanuts, to celebrate the positive trial outcomes. In that interview with CNN, Karikó said, "I'm not an energetic person.