Solvay awards €300k science prize to Katalin Karikó

The 2022 Science for the Future Solvay Prize has been awarded to Katalin Karikó, adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania (USA) and professor at the University of Szeged (Hungary), for her work on the biochemical modification of synthetically produced messenger RNA (mRNA), which has enabled the rapid development of vaccines. Her research was most notably used by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna to build COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, which have saved many lives. It could also help fight other diseases like cancer, infection from influenza, malaria or HIV in the future. Professor Karikó has dedicated her 40-year career to using RNA as a therapeutic, with chemistry as a key element to modify the mRNA to avoid the risk of rejection by the immune system.