Their discovery paved the way for vaccines against Covid-19. The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded this Monday to the Hungarian Katalin Kariko and the American Drew Weissman for their discoveries in the field of messenger RNA.
The two researchers were distinguished “for their discoveries concerning the modifications of the nucleic bases which allowed the development of effective mRNA vaccines against Covid-19”, announced the jury. “The winners have contributed to the development at an unprecedented pace of vaccines in response to one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times,” he added.
Sequencing of Neanderthals
Last year the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to the pioneer of paleogenomics, the Swede Svante Pääbo, for the complete sequencing of the Neanderthal genome and the founding of this discipline which explores DNA from the depths of history. to shed light on today’s human genes.
The prize comes with a reward of eleven million crowns (920,000 euros), the highest nominal value (in Swedish currency) in the more than century-old history of the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Foundation announced in mid-September that it had increased the amount of this endowment thanks to its improved financial situation. The Nobel season continues in Stockholm on Tuesday with physics, then chemistry on Wednesday, before the highly anticipated literature prizes on Thursday and the peace prize on Friday, the only prize awarded in Oslo. The most recent economy price closes the vintage next Monday.