The Latest Breaking News from Katalin Karikó

Katalin Karikó, now a vice-president at BioNTech, saw her research undermined for years before the 2005 breakthrough that led to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Billions of people around the world have received the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. The rapid development of these vaccines changed the course of the pandemic, providing protection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Karikó and Weissman win Nobel for mRNA vaccine discoveries: Hungarian biochemist Karikó and American physician-scientist Weissman win Nobel for discoveries enabling development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. Their work overcame hurdles to allow mRNA to enter body without setting off alarm bells, paving way for vaccines against other diseases.

From 1901 to 2023, the Nobel Prize has been awarded to women 62 times. Marie Curie is still the only woman to have won the Prize twice–once in 1903 for Physics and once in 1911 for Chemistry. 

Hungarian-born biochemist Katalin Karikó and American immunologist Drew Weissman found that a chemical change to genetic code called mRNA eliminated a problematic side effect when used in vaccines.

Two scientists have won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman share £823,000 prize announced by Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm

The 2023 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology has been awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.

Gregor Mendel was disbelieved when he discovered genetics — until his work was rediscovered after he died

This year, the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine will be awarded on Oct. 3. Canada will be in the spotlight again, thanks to Canadian scientists’ involvement with mRNA vaccine development.

PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania has reaped extraordinary financial gain from COVID-19 vaccines — approaching $1 billion since the beginning of last year — thanks to patents on a process Penn researchers developed more than 15 years ago.