Two Scientists, Dr Katalin Kariko and Dr Drew Weissman have been awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing the technology for the mRNA Covid vaccines during the pandemic that began in early 2020.
In a statement on Monday, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet said the groundbreaking findings by the two scientists, fundamentally changed the understanding of how mRNA interacts with the immune system.
It added that the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.
Katalin Karikó was born in 1955 in Szolnok, Hungary. She received her PhD from Szeged’s University in 1982. She has been a Professor at Szeged University and an Adjunct Professor at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania since 2021.
Drew Weissman was born in 1959 in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA. He received his MD, PhD degrees from Boston University in 1987. He is currently the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research and Director of the Penn Institute for RNA Innovations.
