Katalin Karikó Receives the Semmelweis Budapest Award

Széchenyi Prize-winning Hungarian research biologist and research professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Katalin Karikó, received the Semmelweis Budapest Award in the Hungarian capital on Thursday.

"Katalin Karikó's discovery has saved the lives of millions of people, and thanks to her, we can now live in a safer world, because we have a weapon against the COVID-19 virus causing the pandemic, which can be used much more quickly in the future, even in a future pandemic," the Rector of Semmelweis University, Béla Merkely said.

Katalin Karikó gave a scientific lecture with the title ‘A biologist's thoughts on research’, recalling the most important milestones in the 60 years from the discovery of mRNA in 1961 to the development of the COVID vaccine.

The Semmelweis Budapest Award, a prestigious international prize of Semmelweis University, was established by the university's Senate in 2009. The award is given to scientists in the natural sciences who have achieved worldwide recognition and whose work has pioneered new paths and contributed to the advancement of humanity.