Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
(Dec 2020) BioNTech scientist Kati Karik risked her career to develop mRNA vaccines.
Posting because WOMEN in STEM change the world, advance science, move society forward, and save lives.
. . .
It was 1985. The family was moving from Hungary to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, so Karikó could take a postdoctoral position at Temple University. They were only permitted to exchange $100, but Karikó found a workaround: She hid extra cash - £900 British pounds - in her daughter's teddy bear. The money had come from selling the family's car on the black market.
In a way, Karikó's entire career has been based on this kind of clever solution. In 2005, she discovered a way to configure messenger RNA - a molecule that kickstarts the production of proteins - so that it slipped past the body's natural defenses, unannounced.
That paved the way for what has recently turned out to be one of modern science's greatest achievements: the world's first mRNA vaccines.
Karikó, now 65, oversees mRNA protein replacement at BioNTech, a German biotech firm that developed a coronavirus vaccine in partnership with US pharma giant Pfizer. That vaccine has now been authorized in the UK, Canada, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the US. Karikó's work also inspired the founding of Moderna, the US biotech company developing a competing coronavirus shot.
It was 1985. The family was moving from Hungary to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, so Karikó could take a postdoctoral position at Temple University. They were only permitted to exchange $100, but Karikó found a workaround: She hid extra cash - £900 British pounds - in her daughter's teddy bear. The money had come from selling the family's car on the black market.
In a way, Karikó's entire career has been based on this kind of clever solution. In 2005, she discovered a way to configure messenger RNA - a molecule that kickstarts the production of proteins - so that it slipped past the body's natural defenses, unannounced.
That paved the way for what has recently turned out to be one of modern science's greatest achievements: the world's first mRNA vaccines.
Karikó, now 65, oversees mRNA protein replacement at BioNTech, a German biotech firm that developed a coronavirus vaccine in partnership with US pharma giant Pfizer. That vaccine has now been authorized in the UK, Canada, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the US. Karikó's work also inspired the founding of Moderna, the US biotech company developing a competing coronavirus shot.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/scientist-katalin-karik%C3%B3-risked-her-career-in-pursuit-of-mrna-vaccines-her-achievement-could-rescue-the-world-from-the-pandemic/ar-BB1bOXEw
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
