Now in their 10th year, the Breakthrough Prizes recognize leading researchers in the fields of fundamental physics, life sciences and mathematics. This year, one of three prizes in the Life Sciences category will go to Katalin Karikó and Dr. Drew Weissman, whose work over the last few decades led to the development of the technology needed to deliver mRNA into cells, paving the way for today’s COVID-19 vaccines, specifically those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
In essence, Karikó and Weissman figured out how to quiet alarms from the immune system long enough for synthetic messenger RNA to slip into cells, send commands to the cells to make proteins, and be broken down harmlessly once those instructions were delivered.
have been awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for their work with mRNA that enabled the development of several COVID-19 vaccines. (Image credit: The Breakthrough Prize Foundation)