2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

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]

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Karikó (left) and Weissman (right) "for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19"
Date	2 October 2023 (2023-10-02)
Location	Stockholm
Country	Sweden
Presented by	Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet
Hosted by	Thomas Perlmann
Reward(s)	11 million SEK (2023)[1]
First award	1901
Website	2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
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Laureates

Katalin Karikó

Main article: 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

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

1. Burger, Ludwig; Pollard, Niklas (2 October 2023). "Nobel Prize for Medicine goes to Kariko and Weissman, pioneers of COVID vaccine". Reuters.com. Archived from the original on 3 October 2023. Retrieved 3 Oct 2023.
2. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023". NobelPrize.org. Archived from the original on 2023-10-02. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
3. Mueller, Benjamin; Kolata, Gina (2023-10-02). "Nobel Prize Awarded to Covid Vaccine Pioneers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2023-10-02. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
4. Young, Lauren J. "Scientists behind mRNA COVID Vaccines Win 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 2023-10-02. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
5. 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. doi:10.1007/s11224-021-01797-9. PMC 8143802. PMID 34054260.
6. "Drew Weissman". nobelprize.org. October 2, 2023. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
7. "Drew Weissman | Faculty | About Us | Perelman School of Medicine | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania". www.med.upenn.edu. Archived from the original on July 29, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
8. "Drew Weissman, MD, PhD profile". www.pennmedicine.org. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
9. "Drew Weissman, l'architecte des vaccins contre le Covid-19". LEFIGARO (in French). December 24, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
10. Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023 Archived 2023-10-03 at the Wayback Machine nobelprize.org

External links

• Official website of the Nobel Foundation