- Catalin Carico and Drew Weissman have received the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Both scientists have been given this award for their discovery against COVID-19.
- With the help of his discovery, the development of mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 became possible. It was made by Pfizer, Bio N Tech and Moderna.
- The Nobel Prize will carry a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor i.e. approximately Rs 8 crore. This amount will be given to the winners on December 10.
- This year there are 351 candidates for the Nobel Prize in different fields. Since the Nobel Prize was started in 1901, till 2023, 227 people in the field of medicine have been honored with it.
Caitlin Carico: who created mRNA technology
- Katlin Kariko was born on 17 October 1955 in Hungary. Kariko worked for several years on RNA at the University of Szeged in Hungary.
- Caitlin Carico also did her PHD on RNA technology in 1980.
- In 1985, she sold her car in the black market for $1200 and came to America. After coming here, he started working on mRNA technology at the University of Pennsylvania.
- mRNA was discovered in 1961, but even now scientists were trying to find out how proteins can be made from it in the body.
Drew Weissman provided funding and support
- Drew is a famous immunologist. Drew funded Kariko. Later both of them partnered and started working on this technology.
- In 2005, Drew and Kariko published a research paper, which claimed that immunity can be increased through modified mRNA, which can also lead to the development of medicines and vaccines for many diseases.
- However, no one paid attention to his research for many years. In 2010, American scientist Derrick Rossi opened the biotech company Moderna to make a vaccine from modified mRNA.
- In 2013, Kariko was appointed Senior Vice President at German company BioNTech.
mRNA technology
- mRNA or messenger RNA is a small part of the genetic code that makes proteins in our cells.
- It can also be understood in simple language that when a virus or bacteria attacks our body, mRNA technology sends a message to our cells to make proteins to fight that virus or bacteria.
- With this, our immune system gets the essential proteins it needs and antibodies are formed in our body.
- Its biggest advantage is that it can make the vaccine more quickly than the conventional vaccine. Along with this, the immunity of the body also gets strengthened.