Nobel prize in medicine awarded to mRNA pioneers – here's how their discovery was integral to COVID vaccine development

• The rapid development of these vaccines changed the course of the pandemic, providing protection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
• Their discovery was not only integral to COVID-19 vaccine development, but may also lead to the development of many other therapies – such as vaccines for cancer.

Life’s work

• It’s made in the body from our very own DNA in a process called translation.
• DNA is our special encoded handbook of instructions for manufacturing proteins, which are the building blocks for material in the body.
• The cells then make whatever protein they’ve been instructed to, such as haemoglobin for helping red blood cells carry oxygen around the body.
• The researchers faced two major challenges as they began their work.
• Karikó and Weissman’s research had successfully eliminated the obstacles that had previously stood in the way of using mRNA clinically.

COVID vaccines

• Researchers had already been working on developing mRNA vaccines before the pandemic, such as a vaccine for Ebola that didn’t receive much commercial interest.
• This produced a harmless COVID particle which our cells then replicated, allowing our bodies to protect us from severe COVID infections when it encountered the real virus.
• Studies have also shown mRNA vaccines might be useful in treating certain types of cancer.