The whole world applauds today Katalin Karivo (1955, Hungary) after being named, along with Drew Weisseman (1959, United States), as winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the development of the technology that allowed the creation of a first generation of vaccines against covid-19 in record time . But what many people don’t know is that, before reaching this point, Karikó was working for decades in the shadowsbeing rejected again and again in countless calls for scholarships and subsidies and even suffering rejection from a scientific community that, at the time, He believed that his research would never amount to anything.. Now, the history of this biochemistry is not only a reference in science but has also become a true in an example of overcoming.
“Ten years ago I was fired and demoted from my position at the university and today I receive the Nobel for my work,” says Karikó excitedly after a career marked by rejections and challenges that culminates, now, crowning her as the thirteenth woman to win the award. the category of Medicine.
“Ten years ago I was kicked out and forced to retire.”
Our new medicine laureate Katalin Karikó (@kkariko) told us how much it means to be awarded the Nobel Prize after a scientific career that has been full of challenges.
Ten years ago, Karikó was still doing all her… pic.twitter.com/Eufy0fJG0u
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 2, 2023
humble beginnings
Daughter of a butcher and a librarian, Karikó was born in a small Hungarian town in the heart of a very humble and hardworking family. “At home we didn’t even have running water neither refrigerator nor television,” explains the biochemist in an interview with reporter Gina Kolata in the American newspaper ‘The New York Times’. “My interest in science began watching how my father dissected animals in his butcher shop. Later, I was lucky that at my school there were some magnificent teachers who gave me even more of the love for science that has accompanied me throughout my life,” says this biochemist about her beginnings.
Karikó was in high school when he first heard about the discovery of a “revolutionary molecule” with practically infinite potential: mRNA, a small ‘messenger’ capable of transmitting information between DNA and cells. At university he enthusiastically followed the advances in the study of this molecule and, upon finishing his studies, he decided to focus his work on trying to understand how to produce it and, above all, how to use it for therapeutic applications. Despite his enthusiasm in the laboratory, his work soon ran out of funds and Karikó had to leave his native Hungary to seek more opportunities in the United States. “It was a difficult decision, but I followed my instinct because I knew that my work could one day save lives,” explains the scientist in the ‘The daily’ podcast.
Countless rejections
Already in the United States, Karikó continued developing his research at the University of Philadelphia. But just when his in vitro experiments started working, his job ran out of funds again. So he had to combine his work in the laboratory with a true bureaucratic odyssey to obtain funds. “I remember that once I spent New Year’s Eve working on a scholarship proposal.“, he says. On that occasion, he explains, he applied for a scholarship that had six places. “That year only seven proposals were submitted and mine was the only one that was rejected“, he recalls.
Congratulations to one of our new medicine laureates: Katalin Karikó (@kkariko)! 🎉
An interview with her will be coming soon. pic.twitter.com/n3oltlM1zG
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 2, 2023
Karikó’s life suffered, at that time, several setbacks. Due to lack of funds and institutional rejection, the scientist was not only expelled from a laboratory but, furthermore, it was demoted from her position at the university. At that time, the researcher was even forced to sell her car to make ends meet. “Still, I kept trying. I didn’t want rejections to define me or my work,” she says.
scientific achievement
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His life changed when, by pure chance, he ran into Drew Weisseman one day at a university photocopier. It was there where these scientists, now Nobel laureates, met and decided to start collaborating to continue studying the therapeutic use of this molecule. In 2005, after many efforts, both scientists managed to publish an article with all the promising advances they had achieved so far. Later they decided found your own biomedical company to continue researching the issue and, finally, the patent for his discoveries ended up in the hands of the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna.
Karikó and Weissman spent years successfully testing the application of mRNA in vaccines against, for example, the flu. But it was not until early 2020 that, after the first news about the explosion of Covid-19 cases in China, they realized the importance of “accelerating” their work and designing a specific formula against this emerging virus. The work of these scientists allowed the first generation of vaccines against Covid-19 to be developed in record time and, as the Nobel committee explains enthusiastically, “to confront one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.”