Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for Katalin Karikó

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2023 will be awarded to Hungarian-American biochemist Katalin Karikó and American physician-scientist Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, accoring to the announcement of the Nobel Assembly at the Swedish Karolinska Institute.

The discoveries by the two Nobel Laureates were critical for developing effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 during the pandemic that began in early 2020. Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times, the Institute points out. 

After Albert Szent-Györgyi and Imre Kertész, Katalin Karikó is the third person to win the world's most prestigious scientific prize as a Hungarian citizen and the first Hungarian woman to win the Nobel Prize. The high distinction will be presented on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

"The impressive flexibility and speed with which mRNA vaccines can be developed pave the way for using the new platform also for vaccines against other infectious diseases. In the future, the technology may also be used to deliver therapeutic proteins and treat some cancer types," according to the announcement.

Several other vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, based on different methodologies, were also rapidly introduced, and together, more than 13 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given globally. The vaccines have saved millions of lives and prevented severe disease in many more, allowing societies to open and return to normal conditions.

"Through their fundamental discoveries of the importance of base modifications in mRNA, this year’s Nobel laureates critically contributed to this transformative development during one of the biggest health crises of our time," the announcement of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute concludes.