Breaking Through
A powerful memoir from Katalin Karikó, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, whose decades-long research led to the COVID-19 vaccines Katalin Karikó has not been awarded a Nobel Prize. However, she is widely recognized for her pivotal work in the development of mRNA technology, which played a crucial role in the creation of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines. Karikó's groundbreaking research focused on synthetic mRNA and its potential therapeutic uses . She faced numerous challenges and setbacks in her career, as her ideas were initially met with skepticism. One of her key contributions was finding a way to deliver mRNA into cells without triggering an unwanted immune response. She and her colleagues discovered that modifying nucleosides in mRNA helped evade the body's immune system, allowing the mRNA to produce proteins effectively. This modification was crucial for the development of mRNA vaccines, like those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for COVID-1