John AdoyiTwo Scientists, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have been announced by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden as the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their works on “discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.”
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. As stated in Alfred Nobel’s will, the Prize is dedicated to “the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine”.
In a press release on Monday, the institute said: “The discoveries by the two Nobel Laureates (Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman) were critical for developing effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 during the pandemic that began in early 2020.”
“Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times,” the statement added.
About the winners
Katalin Karikó, born in 1955 in Hungary, is a professor at Szeged University and also teaches at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine since 2021.
Drew Weissman, born in 1959 in the USA, is a prominent vaccine researcher and director of the Penn Institute for RNA Innovations at the University of Pennsylvania.
The pair will receive their prize, consisting of a diploma, a gold medal, and $1 million at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, 2023.
Past winner
In 2022, Swedish Geneticist, Svante Paabo was awarded the Prize for Physiology or Medicine “for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.” His award was the 113th.
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The Nobel Prize, endowed by Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor and entrepreneur, is a prestigious international accolade presented by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. This distinguished award is bestowed upon experts across diverse fields. The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine marks the initiation of a series of prestigious awards, with Literature, Physics, and Chemistry prizes to soon follow.
Since its inception, 114 Nobel Prizes for Physiology or Medicine have been granted from 1901 to 2022. Among the recipients, 13 outstanding women have been honored with the medicine prize. Each laureate is awarded a medal, a personal diploma, and a monetary prize as part of this esteemed recognition.
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