Katalin Karikó
Facts
© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin
Katalin Karikó
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023
Born: 17 January 1955, Szolnok, Hungary
Affiliation at the time of the award: Szeged University, Szeged, Hungary; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Prize motivation: “for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”
Prize share: 1/2
Work
A vaccine prevents diseases by stimulating the body's immune system to develop a defense against the infectious agent. One type of vaccine uses mRNA, which transfers genetic information from DNA to stimulate protein production. In 2005 Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman discovered that certain modifications of the building blocks of RNA prevented unwanted inflammatory reactions and increased the production of desired proteins. The discovery laid the foundation for effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 during the pandemic that began in early 2020.
Women who changed science
She was met with mistrust and eventually forced to leave academia – but Katalin Karikó never lost focus, doubling-down on her work to harness mRNA for new vaccines and therapies. Karikó’s Nobel Prize-awarded discovery enabled the development of effective vaccines against COVID-19, offering protection to millions of people. Read her story.
Katalin Karikó in the research laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania, 2005.
© University of Szeged Klebelsberg Library
