3 / 2023 // LEOPOLDINA / NEWS 5
The Nobel Prize in Medicine goes to Leopoldina Member Katalin Karikó
Neuroscientist and biochemist honoured together with Drew Weissman
Image : Markus Scholz | Leopoldina
The Hungarian-US-American neuroscientist and biochemist Katalin Karikó , Member of Leopoldina since 2022 , is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine . She is receiving the award together with US-American immunologist Drew Weissman for their joint scientific research which has been used as the basis for today ’ s mRNA technology .
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman searched for ways to prevent the inflammatory processes triggered by synthetic mRNA , which for a long time has stood in the way of a medical application of mRNA technology . This enabled them to develop vaccines against COVID-19 .
Katalin Karikó has observed in her research on inflammatory processes
“ This prize recognises groundbreaking findings in the field of synthetically produced mRNA .”
Gerald Haug ML President of the Leopoldina
triggered by synthetic mRNA that the inflammatory reaction can be avoided if spatially differently arranged pseudouridine is incorporated into the mRNA instead of the nucleoside building block uridine . Embedded in nanolipid particles , an mRNA modified in this way forms the basis for the mRNA vaccines that have been used around the world since the end of 2020 and have immunised millions of people against the SARS- CoV-2 virus . With this research , Katalin Karikó , who has been a Professor at the University of Szeged in Hungary since 2021 and works as Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania / USA , has laid the foundations of a new technology .
The President of Leopoldina , Gerald Haug , congratulates Katalin Karikó on this high honour : “ This prize recognises groundbreaking findings in the field of synthetically produced mRNA for vaccine development .”
■ JK
Katalin Karikó
Interview in Leopoldina- Newsletter 1 / 2023