The Nobel Committee has awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Katalin Karikó. And Drew Weissman for their pioneering work in the development of mRNA vaccine technology. Which made possible a timely vaccine response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus are credited with helping to curb the spread of the pandemic and with saving between 14.4 million and 19.8 million lives in just the first year of their use; mRNA vaccines played a major role in that accomplishment. For decades, scientists from around the world pursued the use of mRNA (messenger RNA) in medicine.
What is mRNA
Messenger RNA is a single strand of genetic Phone Number List code that the cell uses as instructions to make proteins. These mRNA molecules are native to cells and are key parts of everyday cellular functions: They are the messengers that carry transcribed DNA sequences out of the protected nucleus and into the cell cytoplasm, where they can be translated into proteins by the organelles called ribosomes. A ribosome reads the strand, translating groupings of genetic letters into sequences of amino acids. The long string of amino acids that results then folds into the appropriate protein.
How do mRNA Covid-19 vaccines work
Scientists have learned to write mRNA CW Leads code to form novel proteins — including proteins. That can help cells recognize viruses they’ve never seen. The mRNA technology developed by the Nobel Prize winners borrows the cells’ protein-making machinery. Inducing cells to produce viral proteins that prime the immune system to recognize. A given virus if they encounter it later. When smuggled into cells inside lipid nanoparticle capsules. The mRNA elements deliver the recipe for making the SARS-CoV-2 “spike” protein, which is found on the outside surface of the virus.
