Scientists Who Developed mRNA Vaccines Win Nobel Prize

Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, which were critical in slowing the pandemic.

Hungarian-American Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman were cited for contributing "to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health." I Illustration: Niklas Elmehed, Nobel Prize Facebook

This technology could be used in the future to develop shots against other diseases like cancer and lupus, David Keyton and Mike Corder reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Hungarian-American Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman were cited for contributing "to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health," the panel that awarded the prize in Stockholm said.

It added that the pair's "groundbreaking findings ... changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system."

Traditionally, making vaccines required growing viruses or pieces of viruses and then purifying them before the next steps.

The messenger RNA approach starts with a snippet of genetic code-carrying instructions for making proteins. Pick the right virus protein to target, and the body turns into a mini vaccine factory.

But simply injecting lab-grown mRNA into the body triggered a reaction that usually destroyed it.

Karikó, a professor at Szeged University in Hungary and an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and Weissman, of the University of Pennsylvania, figured out a tiny modification to the building blocks of RNA that made it stealthy enough to slip past immune defenses.

Karikó, 68, is the 13th woman to win the Nobel Prize in medicine. She was a senior vice president at BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer to make one of the COVID-19 vaccines. Kariko and Weissman, 64, met by chance in the 1990s while photocopying research papers, Kariko told Maria Cheng, Maddie Burakoff, and Lauran Neergaard of AP.

WEEKLY FEATURE : Jose Mari Chan And The Christmas Anthem