Honoring mRNA pioneers Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman

While the Covid vaccines were developed and deployed in less than a year, the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology that powered them took more than five decades to develop. On this episode, we speak with two researchers who played a key role in advancing the science: Katalin Kariko, PhD, adjunct professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania and a senior vice president at BioNTech; and Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, the Roberts Family Professor of Vaccine Research in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine. Despite setbacks and even ridicule from peers, they worked tirelessly to find a way to harness the potential they saw in mRNA. In 2001, they discovered a way to turn fragile mRNA strands into viable vaccines and medicines by packaging them into lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). For their contributions to medical research, they were recently awarded the 2022 Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine, an annual award meant to cultivate promising careers in the fields of science and research.  

In this episode, the history-making duo discusses what motivated them to endure their decades-long scientific struggles, their plans to continue their mRNA research and what it means to be awarded the Ross Prize. Also on the show, we speak with Kevin Tracey, MD, president of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, about the importance of supporting young scientists, early-stage research, the culture of science and how listeners can nominate a candidate for the 2023 Ross Prize.

Dr. Tracey is widely known as the "father of bioelectronic medicine," an emerging field of medicine that is making strides in the use of devices, rather than medications, to treat chronic diseases. Among the most promising is a treatment called vagus nerve stimulation.

More on the history of mRNA technology

Learn more about the history of mRNA technology and the development of the Covid-19 vaccines on this episode of the podcast, featuring Wall Street Journal writer, Gregory Zuckerman, and two of the first Americans to receive the vaccine, Sandra Lindsay and Yves Duroseau, MD. 

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