The 19th edition of BioAsia, organised by Telangana government and Federation of Asian Biotech Associations [FABA], has announced that the coveted ‘Genome Valley Excellence Award for 2022’ will be conferred upon Drew Weissman, for his breakthrough pioneering research and development of effective mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, that has helped save billions of lives globally.
Dr. Weissman is a Professor at the Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and is acknowledged for his contributions to the development of various vaccines including COVID-19, universal flu vaccine, herpes vaccine, etc. besides several other therapeutic developments, said a press release on Thursday.
The nucleoside-modified mRNA-lipid nanoparticle vaccine platform, Dr. Weissman’s lab created, is used in the first two approved COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. They continue to develop other vaccines that induce potent antibody and T cell responses with mRNA–based vaccines. He is also known for his work in cancer therapeutics, protein therapeutics, and gene therapy.
