The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to a pair of scientists who developed the technology that led to the mRNA Covid vaccines. Professors Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman will share the prize. As per reports, the technology was experimental before the pandemic but has now been given to millions of people around the world to protect them against serious Covid-19. Reports revealed that the same mRNA technology is now being researched for other diseases, including cancer.
#NobelPrize #mRNA #Covid19 #CovidVaccines #KatalinKariko #DrewWeissman
~HT.178~PR.151~ED.194~GR.123~
#NobelPrize #mRNA #Covid19 #CovidVaccines #KatalinKariko #DrewWeissman
~HT.178~PR.151~ED.194~GR.123~
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to a pair of scientists who
00:06 developed the technology that led to the mRNA COVID vaccines.
00:09 Professors Kathleen Kerikou and Drew Weissman will share the prize.
00:14 As per reports, the technology was experimental before the pandemic but has now been given
00:18 to millions of people around the world to protect them against serious COVID-19.
00:23 Reports revealed that the same mRNA technology is now being researched for other diseases,
00:27 including cancer.
00:29 The Nobel Prize committee said, "The laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine
00:34 development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times."
00:39 Both the scientists were reportedly told they had won by telephone this morning.
00:43 Now, let's understand their work that helped save millions of lives.
00:48 Vaccines train the immune system to recognize and fight threats such as viruses or bacteria.
00:53 Traditional vaccine technology has been based on dead or weakened versions of the original
00:58 virus or bacterium or by using fragments of the infectious agent.
01:02 In contrast, messenger ribonucleic acid or mRNA vaccines use a completely different approach.
01:08 During the COVID pandemic, the Moderna and Pfizer or BioNTech vaccines were both based
01:13 on mRNA technology.
01:15 Professor Kerikou and Professor Weissman met in the early 1990s when they were working
01:19 at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.
01:22 Back then, their idea was not paid much heed but now it has managed to save millions.
01:27 An mRNA COVID vaccine contains the genetic instructions for building one component, a
01:32 protein, from the coronavirus.
01:34 When this is injected into the body, human cells start producing lots of the viral protein.
01:38 The immune system recognizes these as foreign, so it attacks and has learned how to fight
01:43 the virus and therefore has a head start when future infections occur.
01:47 As per records, the big idea behind the technology is that one can rapidly develop a vaccine
01:52 against almost anything as long as one knows the right genetic instructions to use.
01:58 This makes it far faster and more flexible than traditional approaches to vaccine development.
02:02 There are even experimental approaches using the technology that are teaching patients'
02:07 bodies how to fight their own cancers.
02:10 Professors Kerikou and Weissman made the crucial breakthroughs that made mRNA vaccines happen.
02:16 Katalin Kerikou is now a professor at Szeged University in Hungary and Drew Weissman is
02:22 still working as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
02:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]