Lagatar24 Desk
Stockholm, Oct 2: This year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine has been awarded to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman for their discoveries related to the development of mRNA vaccines to fight Covid-19. Nobel Assembly Secretary Thomas Perlman announced the prize in Stockholm on Monday.
“Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times,” the Nobel Assembly said in its announcement.
Katalin Kariko, born in 1955 in Szolnok, holds the position of Professor at Szeged University and serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Drew Weissman is a Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research and also serves as the Director of the Penn Institute for RNA Innovations.
The Nobel Prize carries a cash reward of 11 million Swedish Kronor (1 million US dollars). This prize money is given from the estate of Swedish citizen Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prize, who passed away in 1896.
The announcement of Nobel Prize laureates has commenced, starting with the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Now, the names of Nobel Prize winners in the fields of Physics on Tuesday, Chemistry on Wednesday, and Literature on Thursday will be announced. Additionally, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate will be revealed on Friday, and the announcement of the laureate in the field of Economics will take place on October 9.
