Breakthrough prize of 3 million USD for mRNA technology to create Covid-19 vaccine

Two scientists who developed the mRNA technology used to make a Covid-19 vaccine have been awarded a $3 million prize.

Now in its 10th year, the Breakthrough Prize honors leading researchers in the fields of fundamental physics, the life sciences and mathematics. Each prize comes with a $3 million stipend, sponsored by foundation founders Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Anne Wojcicki.

This year, 1 of 3 prizes in the field of Life Sciences went to two scientists Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. Over the past few decades, these two scientists have developed the technologies necessary to introduce mRNA into cells, paving the way for the creation of vaccines against Covid-19, especially those manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. now.

In essence, the two scientists Karikó and Weissman have found a way to 'shut off' the alarm from the immune system long enough for the synthetic messenger RNA to enter the cell, send commands to the cells to make proteins, and be destroyed. harmlessly break when such instructions are delivered. This technology has helped 360 million people in the US and millions more in countries around the world to access a new Covid-19 vaccine. Besides, mRNA technology could pave the way for gene therapies and cancer treatment in the future.

 Scientists Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman. (Photo: Brandeis).

In a statement, the Breakthrough Foundation said that the vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have proven effective against the virus based on technology that scientists Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have worked on for many years. . They have created a technology that is not only important in the current fight against Covid-19, but also holds potential in the development of other vaccines as well as treatments for HIV, cancer, immunity and other diseases. heredity… in the future.

Drew Weissman, an immunologist and professor of vaccine research at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, told Live Science that mRNA technology has huge potential in the future. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, his team was conducting clinical trials of an mRNA vaccine to prevent genital herpes, influenza and HIV. In 2020, they began working on a pan-coronavirus vaccine capable of defeating any beta virus, of which SARS-CoV-2 is just one. The team is also working on an RNA-based gene therapy for sickle cell anemia that would target bone marrow stem cells.

When Ms. Karikó and Mr. Weissman first worked together in the 1990s, they were experimenting with methods of delivering RNA into dendritic cells - immune cells that would "fly red flags" when they detected it. out external invaders, like viruses. Vaccines target these cells to induce an immune response and train the body to recognize specific pathogens.

But in this initial study, "we found that RNA is highly activating the immune system, possibly because many viruses are RNA, and our bodies are constantly fighting against them. " Weissman said.

In their experiments, the team still managed to get the dendritic cells to make the proteins they wanted, but their synthetic RNA also caused severe inflammation in the cells.

"So the work that Kati [Kariko] and I did in the first seven years, is to find out what made the RNA is capable of immune activation such and how to eliminate it" , Dr. Weissman said

Finally, they discovered that they could prevent inflammation by swapping out one of the building blocks of mRNA - uridine - for a very similar one, called pseudouridine . In human cells, pseudouridine can be found in tRNA. This important discovery, published in 2005 in the journal Immunity, will be key to all future mRNA vaccine development, according to Stat News.

After solving the problem of inflammation, the team still faced "a large number of obstacles". For example, they had to think of the best way to get the mRNA into the cell in the first place. In the end, they found that lipid nanoparticles, essentially tiny bubbles of fat, did the best job at protecting RNA from enzymes that could break it down while delivering the molecules. into cells.

All this work laid the foundation for the birth of the Covid-19 vaccine of Pfizer and Moderna. These vaccines prompt cells to build the mutant protein that is characteristic of SARS-CoV-2. And these vaccines can be easily updated to target new variants, thanks to the adaptability of the RNA platform.

Perhaps in the future, mRNA could be the basis of the first pan-coronavirus vaccine , along with countless other medical treatments. Dr. Weissman's lab is currently working with 150 different laboratories around the world, developing different mRNA vaccines and treatments.