What is that technology that saves millions of lives, for which two scientists have now received the Nobel Prize?

Nobel Prize 2023: This year the first Nobel Prize for Medicine was given to Catalin Carico and Drew Weissman. With this, discussion has started on his achievement. According to the official website of Nobel, due to his achievement it became easier to make m-RNA vaccine against Covid. Which started in 2020.

The Nobel Prize has been announced. This year the first Nobel Prize for Medicine was given to Catalin Carico and Drew Weissman. With this, discussion has started on his achievement. According to the official website of Nobel, due to his achievement it became easier to make m-RNA vaccine against Covid. Which started in 2020.

In such a situation, the question is that due to which of their achievements the path to making Covid vaccine became easier, which helped in stopping Corona and how has been their journey so far.

What is m-RNA vaccine, first understand it

Generally, the vaccine depends on the dead or weakened part of the virus, which is delivered to the human body. So that the risk can be reduced. With time, the method of making the vaccine changed and now only the genetic material (m-RNA) of the virus is being used in making the vaccine. However, making the vaccine this way also takes time.

mRNA is also called messenger RNA. This is a small part of the genetic code, which is necessary for the formation of proteins in the body. Whenever a virus attacks the body, due to this m-RNA vaccine, a protein (antibody) is formed in the body which is necessary for the immune system to fight diseases. Due to this, virus fighting antibodies are formed in the body. This is the reason why more such vaccines are being prepared in the world.

Also know what feats the Nobel winners have achieved

Katalin Kariko, born in Hungary on October 17, 1955, worked on m-RNA technology. Although m-RNA was discovered in 1961, but at that time there was a competition among scientists as to how proteins (antibodies) are made from it in the body. Kariko was also trying to find out the same. With its help, she wanted to prepare vaccines for chronic diseases. In 1990, Kariko was working at the University of Pennsylvania, but due to lack of funds, research was not gaining momentum.

In 1997, Drew Weissman came to the University of Pennsylvania and funded Kariko's project. Weissman, an immunologist by profession, started working on m-RNA technology in collaboration with Kariko. In 2005, a research paper was published on their project together.

Both of them told in the research paper how with the help of m-RNA technology, the ability of humans to fight against viruses can be increased. Along with this, it was also explained how medicines and vaccines can be prepared with the help of this technology.

BREAKING NEWS
The 2023 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/Y62uJDlNMj

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 2, 2023

Their discovery was ignored for years

Despite such a huge discovery, no attention was paid to it for years, but the year 2010 proved to be the turning point. American scientist Derrick Rossi opened a company named Moderna to make m-RNA vaccine. In 2013, Karika was made Senior Vice President at Germany's BioNTech. Derrick continuously demanded to give Nobel Prize to Carico and Weissman for m-RNA technology.

Their technology was used during the Corona period and many companies made Covid vaccine based on m-RNA technology. Now he has received the Nobel Prize.