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Oct 1, 2021 · Karikó’s research and perseverance proved that mRNA vaccines were possible and paved the way for the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to end the Covid-19 Pandemic. Katalin Karikó was born on January 17, 1955, in Hungary. Her father was a butcher, and she grew up in the small Hungarian town of Kisujszallas.
- Overview
- Education and early career
- mRNA research
- Awards
Katalin Karikó (born January 17, 1955, Kisújszállás, Hungary) Hungarian-born biochemist known for her pioneering research into RNA (ribonucleic acid) therapeutics, particularly the development of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. Karikó’s investigation into the ability of mRNA nucleosides (structural subunits of nucleic acids) to trigger immune respon...
Karikó grew up in a small village in Hungary, where from an early age she expressed an interest in nature and excelled academically in science. In 1978, after graduating with a doctoral degree from the University of Szeged, she accepted a position at the Biological Research Centre (BRC), Szeged. There she studied the antiviral activity of short segments of RNA and began her investigations of modified nucleosides, a type of synthetic mRNA in which specific nucleosides have been altered or replaced, typically with either synthetic nucleosides or naturally modified nucleosides.
In 1985, with no further funding to support her research at the BRC, Karikó moved to the United States, where she accepted a position as a postdoctoral researcher at Temple University in Philadelphia. Four years later she took a position at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). There, with American cardiologist Elliot Barnathan, she demonstrated that mRNA, when inserted into cells, could be used to direct the production of new proteins. The breakthrough inspired her to pursue the study of mRNA-based gene therapy.
By the late 1990s, however, Karikó’s work on mRNA and gene therapy had stalled—again, for lack of funding. She considered leaving Penn for another research institution or pursuing different work entirely, but then she began collaborating at Penn with Weissman. Both researchers were interested in the possibility of using mRNA to stimulate the body to develop immunity against viral pathogens. In initial studies, they discovered that mRNA is highly immunogenic, provoking counterproductive immune responses in the body. However, when Karikó carried out experiments with a different type of RNA molecule, transfer RNA (tRNA), she did not observe the same immunogenic effects. That observation encouraged her and Weissman to experiment with modified nucleosides, which she had known about from her work at the BRC. The researchers went on to identify associations between specific modified mRNA nucleosides and reduced immunogenicity—a breakthrough that resulted in a technology known as non-immunogenic, nucleoside-modified RNA, which was developed and patented (2005) by Karikó and Weissman.
Karikó and Weissman subsequently started a company called RNARx, which aimed to commercialize non-immunogenic, nucleoside-modified RNA. The researchers eventually licensed the technology to two biotechnology companies, Moderna and BioNTech. In 2013 Karikó took a position as senior vice president at BioNTech, overseeing the company’s work on mRNA. In the following years, although both companies had multiple RNA therapeutics in clinical trials, none had yet proved successful. In 2021, however, a major breakthrough came during the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by the urgency to develop a vaccine that could help prevent or reduce the severity of infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Unlike traditional vaccine development, the generation of mRNA vaccines is relatively rapid, relying primarily on synthetic technologies, without any need for actual virus particles. Within months of obtaining the genetic code of SARS-CoV-2, scientists at Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech had experimental mRNA vaccines ready for testing.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Karikó’s work on RNA therapeutics was recognized with numerous honours, including the Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research (2020), the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award (2021), and the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (2021); all three awards were shared with Weissman.
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Jan 25, 2024 · The 646 people who have won Nobel science prizes include many who faced formidable obstacles. But few have overcome adversity like Katalin Karikó, co-winner of the 2023 award for medicine, whose ...
Oct 1, 2021 · Dr. Katalin Karikó’s research has for decades focused on RNA-mediated mechanisms, with the ultimate goal of developing in vitro-transcribed mRNA for protein therapy. She investigated RNA-mediated immune activation and co-discovered (with Penn Medicine colleague Drew Weissman) that nucleoside modifications suppress the immunogenicity of RNA ...
Oct 6, 2023 · The new coronavirus—what came to be known as SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19 —spread very rapidly, and it could be serious. Because it was novel, people had no immunity against it. We would need a ...
A year after being awarded the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Award for her groundbreaking discovery of a non-inflammatory type of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) which contributed to the rapid development of the first COVID-19 vaccine, Professor Katalin Karikó has been awarded the Nobel Prize for the same achievement, along with her longstanding colleague Professor ...
Oct 2, 2023 · “Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman are brilliant researchers who represent the epitome of scientific inspiration and determination. Day after day, Dr. Weissman, Dr. Karikó and their teams worked tirelessly to unlock the power of mRNA as a therapeutic platform, not knowing the way in which their work could serve to meet a big challenge the world would one day face,” said Penn President Liz ...
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