“With courage and determination”: Honorary Doctor of Radboud University Katalin Karikó receives Nobel Prize

We were delighted to hear the news that Katalin Karikó, Honorary Doctor of the Faculty of Science at Radboud University, has received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her revolutionary work alongside Drew Weissman on mRNA vaccines. It is thanks to Karikó and Weissman’s fundamental research that BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna were able to develop the current mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.

Karikó, who is the 13th woman to win the prize, has dedicated many years to researching medical applications of mRNA, first in her native Hungary and later at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. She strongly believed there was potential to develop synthetic mRNA that could be used to cure cancer, strokes, and influenza. When Karikó began her research, enthusiasm for developing mRNA technology for clinical purposes was limited, as it was considered unstable. Where traditional vaccines use weakened or dead microbes, or pieces of them, to stimulate immunity, mRNA vaccines do not contain any viruses or microbes; instead, they contain a genetic material that prompts the body to make a protein, which in turn stimulates an immune response through which the body is taught to protect itself from a specific virus.

Karikó faced no shortage of obstacles in her work over the years, including repeated criticism and rejection from colleagues and employers. Despite this, she persevered; she met Weissman, an immunologist in the late nineties, and together they were eventually able to demonstrate it is possible to trigger an immune response in the body with mRNA without the body turning against the mRNA itself. This groundbreaking discovery paved the way for the rapid development of the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which altered the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic and has saved millions of lives globally.

On October 20th, 2022, on the 99th anniversary of Radboud University, Karikó was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university’s Faculty of Science. Her Honorary supervisor Floris Rutjes, Professor in Organic Synthesis, stated that “With courage and determination, she pursued her scientific vision for a very long time, and by doing so, she has ultimately made a significant contribution to the fight against viral diseases.” Karikó’s story is a fascinating and inspiring one that speaks to the power of resilience, determination, and resolve in scientific innovation.

To find out more about her journey, you can download her honorary doctorate for free, published in open access by Radboud University Press. Read it now.