- Catalin Carico and Drew Weissman are the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
- They have been jointly awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology that has paved the way for groundbreaking COVID-19 vaccines.
- Catalin Karikó is a Hungarian-American biochemist. Drew Weissman is an American physician-scientist.
- The Nobel Prize committee said their groundbreaking findings fundamentally change the understanding of how mRNA interacts with a human's immune system.
- It says he contributed to vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.
- mRNA vaccines were approved for use in December 2020.
- mRNA vaccines deliver genetic molecules that tell cells which proteins to make.
- They differ from traditional vaccines, which use a weakened virus or a key fragment of the virus's protein.
- The Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines were based on mRNA technology. The technology was experimental before the pandemic.
- Kariko and Weissman have won the prestigious Lasker Award in 2021. The prize is often seen as a precursor to the Nobel Prize.
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Awards & Honors
