Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman were awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for their discoveries that gave the world a vaccine to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Nobel Assembly in Sweden honored Kariko and Weissman "for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19," Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the body, announced.
Hungarian-American biochemist Kariko was born in 1955 and specializes in RNA-mediated mechanisms. Her research has been the development of in vitro-transcribed mRNA for protein therapies.
American physician-scientist Weissman, who was born in 1959, is best known for his contributions to RNA biology. His work helped enable the development of mRNA vaccines.
It was the first Nobel Prize awarded this year, with more announcements to be made over the week.
