2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine explained
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Katalin Karikó (born 1955) and Drew Weissman (born 1959) "for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19".[2] [3]
Laureates
Katalin Karikó
See main article: article and Katalin Karikó. Katalin Karikó was born on January 17, 1955, in Szolnok, Hungary.[4] From the University of Szeged, she received a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1982.[5] From 2013 to 2022, she was associated with BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals, first as a vice president and promoted to senior vice president in 2019. This company, a division of BioNTech, commercialized mRNA vaccines at a global scale.
Drew Weissman
See main article: Drew Weissman. Drew Weissman was born on September 7, 1959, in Lexington, Massachusetts[6] and received a Ph.D. in 1987 at Boston University.[7] He started studying RNA at the University of Pennsylvania in 1997,[8] where he met Karikó.[9]
Key publications
The following publications were the fundamental researches that motivated the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet to award the 2023 Prize to Karikó and Weissman:[10]
- Karikó, K., Buckstein, M., Ni, H. and Weissman, D. Suppression of RNA Recognition by Toll-like Receptors: The impact of nucleoside modification and the evolutionary origin of RNA. Immunity 23, 165–175 (2005).
- Karikó, K., Muramatsu, H., Welsh, F.A., Ludwig, J., Kato, H., Akira, S. and Weissman, D. Incorporation of pseudouridine into mRNA yields superior nonimmunogenic vector with increased translational capacity and biological stability. Mol Ther 16, 1833–1840 (2008).
- Anderson, B.R., Muramatsu, H., Nallagatla, S.R., Bevilacqua, P.C., Sansing, L.H., Weissman, D. and Karikó, K. Incorporation of pseudouridine into mRNA enhances translation by diminishing PKR activation. Nucleic Acids Res. 38, 5884–5892 (2010).
References
- News: Nobel Prize for Medicine goes to Kariko and Weissman, pioneers of COVID vaccine . 2 October 2023 . Reuters.com . 3 Oct 2023 . live . Burger . Ludwig . Pollard . Niklas . 3 October 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231003013606/https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/kariko-weissman-win-medicine-nobel-covid-19-vaccine-work-2023-10-02/ .
- Web site: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023 . 2023-10-03 . NobelPrize.org . en-US . 2023-10-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231002202612/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2023/summary/ . live .
- News: Mueller . Benjamin . Kolata . Gina . 2023-10-02 . Nobel Prize Awarded to Covid Vaccine Pioneers . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-10-03 . 0362-4331 . 2023-10-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231002232152/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/health/nobel-prize-medicine.html . live .
- Web site: Young . Lauren J. . Scientists behind mRNA COVID Vaccines Win 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine . 2023-10-03 . Scientific American . en . 2023-10-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231002221254/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nobel-prize-medicine-2023-mrna-vaccine-tech/ . live .
- Hargittai . Istvan . Hargittai . Magdolna . 25 May 2021 . Our science and the Covid-19 pandemic—Katalin Karikó's research idea and her perseverance . Structural Chemistry. 32 . 4 . 1353–1356 . 10.1007/s11224-021-01797-9 . 34054260 . 8143802 .
- Web site: October 2, 2023 . Drew Weissman . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231002100625/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2023/weissman/facts/ . October 2, 2023 . October 2, 2023 . nobelprize.org .
- Web site: Drew Weissman Faculty About Us Perelman School of Medicine Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania . January 8, 2021 . www.med.upenn.edu . en . July 29, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100729074956/https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g275/p20322 . live .
- Web site: Drew Weissman, MD, PhD profile . January 8, 2021 . www.pennmedicine.org . en-US.
- Web site: December 24, 2020 . Drew Weissman, l'architecte des vaccins contre le Covid-19 . January 8, 2021 . LEFIGARO . fr.
- https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2023/press-release/ Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023
External links