- Jun 24, 2003
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One month from today will be the start of Nobel Prize week. The Medicine/Physiology Prize is usually the first one announced. I’ll be shocked if it’s not awarded for the development of mRNA vaccine technology. 3 people especially deserve it: Katalin Kariko, a Hungarian -born biochemist who had the idea that viral mRNA could be used to induce immunity. Drew Weissman, her colleague at Penn who showed in lab studies than mRNA can stimulate antibody production by immune cells. And Barney Graham at Vanderbilt. Among other virologic research, he developed the lipid nanoparticle that protects mRNA from degradation and makes the vaccine feasible. Of course, the Nobel Committee at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden decides who wins the prize. But it would be a disgrace if none of these people get it.