Nobel Prize Winners 2023: Physiology or Medicine
On Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman’s ground-breaking work on mRNA vaccines
The Nobel Prize awards are given to the most innovative, ground-breaking, and surely, projects that inspire and provide the world with optimism for the future. In physiology and medicine, there are always new things to discover; although ultimately (on average) only 150 pounds of cells have been researched for over 5000 years, our bodies are fascinating works of art and science and continue to be researched in modern-day science.
In 2023, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their work with mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccines against the virus that brought about a global pandemic, COVID-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a shock to the entire world, and unfortunately reached all continents, even Antarctica. Although we acknowledge our doctors, nurses and entire medical teams as the heroes who worked tirelessly to help patients through their illnesses, it is sometimes forgotten that the researchers and scientists working behind the microscope are as deserving of a heroic title as the others.
Karikó and Weissman were among the many researchers who worked to try and discover quickly, a safe vaccine that could be mass-produced to begin the recovery and prevent continued deaths from the COVID-19 virus. Their work on mRNA vaccines provided insight into how this new form of vaccination design responds to the body, and specifically how it interacts with the immune system. Now, to truly appreciate the work of Karikó and Weissman, it is important to understand what an mRNA vaccine is and how these two brilliant scientists made award-winning discoveries using this technique.
What is an mRNA vaccine?
An mRNA vaccine is a more modern vaccination type because it does not use the actual virus or bacteria, whether it be a dead or weakened form. Rather, it uses a biological molecule, which is not foreign to our bodies, called messenger RNA (mRNA) which is the intermediary form between our genetic material and the protein it encodes.
An mRNA vaccine works by introducing a portion of the mRNA that is naturally found in the viral genome which then codes for viral proteins. When introduced to our bodies, the cells will begin to replicate and transform the mRNA into the respective proteins and will then transport them onto the cell’s surface. There, they can act as a foreign signal (also known as an antibody) to the immune system. Once the immune system detects this foreign signal, the body will begin to build antibodies which will then allow the body to attack these antigen-presenting cells and destroy them to ensure that the harmful virus will not continue to spread to any other cells throughout the body.
Once the antibodies are produced, they remain dormant and if the body is exposed to the same virus, the body will not have to spend time producing the antibodies since they are already created; however, the body will upregulate their activation and immediate action to fight off the pathogen will take place. What was unique about Karikó and Weissman’s work was that they were able to produce modified nucleoside bases (the building blocks of mRNA molecules) which could bypass the body’s immune recognition and enhance protein expression of the COVID-19 viral proteins. This allowed for more effective use of mRNA vaccines to limit inflammatory side effects in patients and to increase the immune response after infection.
Nothing short of ground-breaking, Karikó and Weissman made discoveries that are sure to continue making important advances within medicine as the world continues to brace for future pandemics and for future care in the fields of infectious diseases across the world.
About the Writer
Wynter Sutchy is an incoming fourth-year undergraduate student at McMaster University studying Biology (Physiology) and is from King City, ON. She is very passionate about the healthcare field and enjoys sharing her volunteering experiences through writing. She plans to pursue a career in medicine in the future and plans to explore the field of healthcare through research and volunteering throughout her undergraduate career. In her free time, you can expect her to be watching her favourite show, Greys Anatomy, teaching children how to swim, or baking some delicious desserts!
