By Niklas Pollard and Ludwig Burger
STOCKHOLM, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Scientists Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman from Hungary and the United States respectively won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries enabling the development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, the award-giving body said on Monday.
The prize, among the most prestigious in the scientific world, is selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute medical university and also comes with 11 million Swedish crowns (about $1 million).
“The 2023 NobelPrize 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 body said.
Kariko was senior vice president and head of RNA protein replacement at BioNTech until 2022 and has since acted as an adviser to the company. She is also a professor at the University of Szeged in Hungary and adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.
Weissman is professor in vaccine research at the Perelman School.
Kariko found a way to prevent the immune system from launching an inflammatory reaction against lab-made mRNA, previously seen as a major hurdle against any therapeutic use of mRNA.
Together with Weissman, she showed in 2005 that adjustments to nucleosides, the molecular letters that write the mRNA’s genetic code, can keep the mRNA under the immune system’s radar.
“So this year’s Nobel Prize recognizes their basic science discovery that fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with the immune system and had a major impact on society during the recent pandemic,” said Rickard Sandberg, member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute
The medicine prize kicks off this year’s awards with the remaining five to be unveiled in the coming days.
The prizes, first handed out in 1901, were created by Swedish dynamite inventor and wealthy businessman Alfred Nobel, and are awarded for achievements in science, literature and peace, and in later years also for economics.
The Swedish king will present the prizes at a ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death, followed by a lavish banquet at city hall.
Last year’s medicine prize went to Swede Svante Paabo for sequencing the genome of the Neanderthal, an extinct relative of present-day humans, and for discovering a previously unknown human relative, the Denisovans.
Other past winners include Alexander Fleming, who shared the 1945 prize for the discovery of penicillin, and Karl Landsteiner in 1930 for his discovery of human blood groups.
The Nobel prizes, arguably the world’s most prestigious awards, are being revealed over coming days, starting Monday.
The prizes, with a 11 million Swedish crown ($994,000) award each, are given for achievements in physics, literature, medicine or physiology, chemistry and peace.
WHAT IS THE NOBEL PRIZE?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who in his will dictated that his estate should be used to fund “prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”
Nobel died in 1895 but it took until 1901, following fighting over his will, before the first awards.
Nobel named the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to award the prizes for chemistry and physics, the Swedish Academy for literature, Sweden’s Karolinska Institute university for physiology or medicine, and the Norwegian parliament for peace. It is not known why Nobel chose Norway, which at the time was in a union with Sweden, to hand out the peace prize.
In 1968, when Sweden’s central bank was celebrating its 300th anniversary, it established the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel with a donation to the Nobel Foundation. The prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, according to the same principles as the other prizes.
FAMOUS AND INFAMOUS LAUREATES
Notable Nobel laureates include scientists like Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and Marie Curie, authors like Ernest Hemingway and Albert Camus, and inspirational leaders like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa.
While most achievements are still celebrated, some awards have not aged well, such as Egas Moniz’ 1949 prize in physiology or medicine for the since banned and discredited practice of lobotomy.
Many peace prizes have also been criticized, including those for Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres. Failure to give the prize to Mahatma Gandhi before his death in 1948 is also seen by many as a mistake.
THE FESTIVITIES
The Nobel prizes are presented to the laureates on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death. The peace prize is handed out by the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel committee in Oslo, while the other prizes are presented by the Swedish king in Stockholm’s Concert Hall.
During the evening some 1,300 guests are treated to a lavish banquet at Stockholm City Hall. The banquet requires extensive planning and the food is prepared by a head chef, eight head waiters, 210 waiters and waitresses, five wine waiters and 20 cooks.
Months before the banquet, three menus suggested by selected chefs are presented to the Nobel Foundation for tasting. The selected menu is kept secret until the day of the Nobel Banquet.
The menus aim to have a touch of Scandinavia and last year’s menu included a starter of seaweed baked pike-perch, main course of venison filled with morel and sage, and desert of baked cheesecake and plum compote.
Physiology or medicine – Monday 2 October, 11:30 CEST at the earliest
Physics – Tuesday 3 October, 11:45 CEST at the earliest
Chemistry – Wednesday 4 October, 11:45 CEST at the earliest
Literature – Thursday 5 October, 13:00 CEST at the earliest
Peace – Friday 6 October, 11:00 CEST
Economic sciences – Monday 9 October, 11:45 CEST at the earliest
($1 = 11.0622 Swedish crowns)
Photo: Scientists Katalin Kariko (L)) and Drew Weissman (R)
