Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine 2023

• The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their “discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”.
• The first vaccines to use the mRNA technology were those made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna against COVID-19.
• Katalin Karikó has become the 13^th women to win Nobel in Medicine.

ABOUT MRNA VACCINES

• mRNA stands for messenger RNA, is a form of nucleic acid which carries genetic information.
• Like other vaccines, the mRNA vaccine also attempts to activate the immune system to produce antibodies that help counter an infection from a live virus.
• However, while most vaccines use weakened or dead bacteria or viruses to evoke a response from the immune system, mRNA vaccines only introduce a piece of the genetic material that corresponds to a viral protein.
  • This is usually a protein found on the membrane of the virus and is called spike protein.
• Therefore, the mRNA vaccine does not expose individuals to the virus itself.

HOW ARE THESE VACCINES DIFFERENT?

• A piece of DNA must be converted into RNA for a cell to be able manufacture the spike protein.
• While an mRNA vaccine might look like a more direct approach to getting the cell to produce the necessary proteins, mRNA is very fragile and will be shred apart at room temperature or by the body’s enzymes when injected.
• To preserve its integrity, the mRNA needs to be wrapped in a layer of oily lipids, or fat cells.
• DNA is much more stable and can be more flexibly integrated into a vaccine-vector.
• In terms of performance, both are expected to be as effective.

CHALLENGE

• A challenge with mRNA vaccines is that they need to be frozen from -90 degree Celsius to -50 degree Celsius.
• They can be stored for up to two weeks in commercial freezers and need to be thawed at 2 degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius at which they can remain for a month.

ABOUT NOBEL PRIZE

• The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901, following Nobel’s death in 1896.
• Each prize is worth 10 million kronor.
• The award is administered by Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden for 6 streams- Medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, economics, and peace.
• The Nobel prize for Economics was created by Sweden’s central bank in 1968.