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Two scientists whose pioneering work helped create mRNA Covid vaccines were today awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman were credited with helping to drastically change the course of the pandemic.
The pair met in the 1990s while working at the University of Pennsylvania, after a chance meeting while photocopying research papers.
They jointly developed so-called nucleoside base modifications.
These stop the immune system from launching an inflammatory attack against lab-made mRNA, previously seen as a major hurdle against any therapeutic use of the technology.
shared the coveted award for their discoveries concerning ‘nucleoside base modifications’ that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against Covid.
Katalin Karikó is a professor at Szeged University in Hungary and an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
Drew Weissman performed his prizewinning research together with Professor Karikó at the University of Pennsylvania.
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman shared the coveted award for their discoveries concerning ‘nucleoside base modifications’ that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against Covid. The duo were credited with helping to change the course of the Covid pandemic
Katalin Karikó is a professor at Szeged University in Hungary and an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania . Drew Weissman performed his prizewinning research together with Professor Karikó at the University of Pennsylvania. Pictured, the two laureates today during the announcement of the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm
The duos ‘groundbreaking findings’ have ‘fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system’, the panel that awarded the prize said this morning. Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the Nobel Committee (pictured), announced this year’s winner at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He told the ceremony both scientists were ‘overwhelmed’ by news of the prize when he contacted them shortly before the announcement
The duos ‘groundbreaking findings’ have ‘fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system’, the panel that awarded the prize said this morning.
The laureates contributed to the ‘unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times’, they added.
mRNA Covid vaccines which have saved millions of lives during the pandemic were thought to be the frontrunners after missing out on the prestigious award last year.
Vaccines train the immune system to recognise and fight threats such as viruses or bacteria.
The same mRNA technology is now being researched for other diseases and even cancer.
While the prize-winning science dates back to 2005, the first vaccines to use the mRNA technology were those made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna against Covid.
mRNA is the genetic blueprint that instructs cells to make proteins in the body.
Professors Karikó and Weissman together began investigating the technology as a potential therapeutic in the 1990s.
In 2005, they published their results in a paper which revealed mRNA could be altered and delivered effectively into the body to activate the body’s protective immune system.
Unlike other vaccines, a live or attenuated virus is not injected or required at any point.
For Covid, the mRNA vaccine instructed cells to make the spike protein found on the surface of the virus itself.
After vaccination, cells begin making the spike protein, ‘training’ the immune system to recognise it and then to make cells that fight it.
If you later become infected with the Covid virus, these immune cells are ready and primed to fight it.
Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the Nobel Committee, announced this year’s winner at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
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He told the ceremony both scientists were ‘overwhelmed’ by news of the prize when he contacted them shortly before the announcement.
‘This year’s Nobel Prize recognizes their basic science discovery that fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with the immune system and had a major impact on society during the recent pandemic,’ Rickard Sandberg, member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute, also said.
‘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,’ the committee added.
They told the conference this morning that the technology ‘may also be used to deliver therapeutic proteins and treat some cancer types.’
mRNA contains four different bases. The Nobel Laureates discovered that base-modified mRNA can be used to block activation of inflammatory reactions (secretion of signaling molecules) and increase protein production when mRNA is delivered to cells
Karikó and Weissman together began investigating mRNA as a potential therapeutic in the 1990s. In 2005, they published their results in a paper which revealed mRNA could be altered and delivered effectively into the body to activate the body’s protective immune system. Unlike other vaccines, a live or attenuated virus is not injected or required at any point. Pictured, methods for vaccine production before the COVID-19 pandemic
The two longstanding colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, have won a slew of awards for their research, including the prestigious Lasker Award in 2021, often seen as a precursor to the Nobel.
In honouring the duo this year, the Nobel committee in Stockholm also broke its usual practice of honouring decades-old research to ensure it stands the test of time.
Speaking to Swedish Radio this morning, Professor Karikó said her late mother used to listen to the Nobel prize announcements in the hopes of hearing her daughter’s name.
‘She listened year after year. Unfortunately five years ago she passed at the age of 89. She might be listening from above.’
Past winners in the field include a string of famous researchers, notably Alexander Fleming, who shared the 1945 prize for the discovery of penicillin.
The prizes carry a cash award of 11million Swedish kronor ($1million).
The money comes from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896.
The pair will receive their Nobel prize, consisting of a diploma, a gold medal and a $1 million cheque, from King Carl XVI Gustaf at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10.
Neither have worked for vaccine manufacturers Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca.
Professor Karikó was senior vice president and head of RNA protein replacement at BioNTech until 2022 and has since acted as an adviser to the company.
She is the 13th woman to win the Nobel Prize in medicine.
Professor Weissman has remained at the University of Pennsylvania where he is the Roberts Family Professor in vaccine research and director of the Penn Institute for RNA Innovations.
Last year, the Medicine Prize went to Professor Svante Pääbo who discovered that Neanderthals are still alive after proving interbreeding occurred between Homo Sapiens and our closest ancient relatives.
Neanderthal DNA provided key insights into our immune system, including our vulnerability to severe Covid.
The award was the second in the family. Paabo’s father, Sune Bergstrom, won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1982.
The Nobel season continues this week with the announcement of the winners of the Physics Prize tomorrow and the Chemistry Prize on Wednesday.
They will be followed by the much-anticipated prizes for Literature on Thursday and Peace on Friday.
The Economics Prize winds things up on Monday, October 9.
