The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to researchers Kathleen Carrico and Drew Weissmann for “allowing the development of effective messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines against Covid-19,” the Nobel Prize Committee in Karolinska announced on Monday. Company, in Stockholm, Sweden.
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2023 #Nobel Prize Physiology or Medicine awarded to Katelyn Carrico and Drew Weissman for their discoveries regarding nucleoside base changes that helped develop effective mRNA vaccines against Covid-19. pic.twitter.com/Y62uJDlNMj— Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 2, 2023
“The discoveries of the two Nobel laureates were the basis for the development of effective mRNA vaccines against Covid-19 during the pandemic that started in early 2020”, says the statement on the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine. “The laureates have contributed to an unprecedented rate of vaccine development against one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times, fundamentally changing our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system,” he added.
This year’s Nobel Prize winners will receive 11 million Swedish kroner (about 951 thousand euros, at current exchange rates).
Katalin Kariko was born in 1955 in Solnok, Hungary. After completing his PhD and carrying out several post-doctoral studies at various institutions in Hungary and the USA, he became an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania (USA) in 1989, where he remained until 2013. Work with Drew Weisman. In the following years, the Hungarian scientist became the vice president of the pharmaceutical company BioNTech, in charge of developing one of the vaccines against Covid-19. Since 2021, Katlin Kariko is a professor at the University of Szeged (Hungary) and an adjunct professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Drew Weisman was born in 1959 in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA. He received his doctorate from Boston University in 1987, and also attended Harvard University School of Medicine and the US National Institutes of Health. In 1997, Weissman formed a research group at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Created by Alfred Nobel in 1895, the Nobel Prizes are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Nobel Prize Committee and the Karolinska Institute to individuals or organizations who have made outstanding contributions to the fields of chemistry, physics, literature, and peace. and medication.
Over 120 years, between 1901 and 2022, 225 scientists won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 12 of which were awarded to women. The youngest laureate was Frederick G. It was Ponting who, at the age of 32, received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1923 for the discovery of insulin. Francis Peyton Rouse, who was 87 in 1966 when he was awarded the prize for his discovery of tumor-causing viruses, is the oldest person to date.
In 1949, Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with Swiss physiologist Walter Rudolf Hess, with whom he developed the prefrontal leukotomy technique.
The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to scientist Svante Pabo “for his discoveries about the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution”.
On Tuesday, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics will be announced, and on Wednesday the Nobel Prize Committee will award the best work in chemistry. This will be followed by the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday, the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday and the Nobel Prize for Economics next Monday.
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