Hungarian Scientist's toil behind mRNA vaccine

[sandeep]

A great read @BacktoCricaddict 

Quote

She grew up in Hungary, daughter of a butcher. She decided she wanted to be a scientist, although she had never met one. She moved to the United States in her 20s, but for decades never found a permanent position, instead clinging to the fringes of academia.

Now Katalin Kariko, 66, known to colleagues as Kati, has emerged as one of the heroes of Covid-19 vaccine development. Her work, with her close collaborator, Dr. Drew Weissman of the University of Pennsylvania, laid the foundation for the stunningly successful vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

For her entire career, Dr. Kariko has focused on messenger RNA, or mRNA — the genetic script that carries DNA instructions to each cell’s protein-making machinery. She was convinced mRNA could be used to instruct cells to make their own medicines, including vaccines.

But for many years her career at the University of Pennsylvania was fragile. She migrated from lab to lab, relying on one senior scientist after another to take her in. She never made more than $60,000 a year.

 

 

By all accounts intense and single-minded, Dr. Kariko lives for “the bench” — the spot in the lab where she works. She cares little for fame. “The bench is there, the science is good,” she shrugged in a recent interview. “Who cares?”

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/health/coronavirus-mrna-kariko.html

[BacktoCricaddict]

What an inspiration!

 

Similarly, this Turkish-origin couple (Sahin and Turecki) are also at the forefront of the BioNTech effort (Dr. Kariko's basic research had laid the foundation.  Scienctists like  Turecki and Sahin build upon it to develop tangible products).  Much different paths, but their interconnected work has woven a tapestry of hope.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/business/biontech-covid-vaccine.html

 

Dr. Sahin has had little time for politics this year. BioNTech has been so busy developing a vaccine that the company has not finalized the financial details of its partnership agreement with Pfizer.

“Trust and personal relationship is so important in such business, because everything is going so fast,” Dr. Sahin said. “We still have a term sheet and not yet a final contract on many things.”

Dr. Sahin said he and Dr. Türeci learned about efficacy data on Sunday night and marked the moment by brewing Turkish tea at home. “We celebrated, of course,” he said. “It was a relief.”

 

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by BacktoCricaddict