She received the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for developing mRNA technology.
Highlights:
- Katalin Karikó received the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for her groundbreaking work on mRNA technology, which underpins the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
- Karikó’s journey included overcoming obstacles, fleeing communist Hungary, and balancing her career with family life, highlighting the support of her husband and daughter.
- Despite facing financial instability, professional setbacks, and scepticism, Karikó persisted in her research, driven by her passion and determination, rather than the pursuit of recognition.
- Karikó’s mRNA research extends beyond COVID-19, with ongoing studies exploring its use in combating diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, and genetic disorders, and in developing new cancer therapies.
- Despite her success, Karikó remains humble, representing all dedicated scientists who persevere in their work despite challenges and lack of recognition.
Professor Katalin Karikó, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine, never sought recognition. She is the scientist behind the world’s most effective COVID-19 vaccines—those by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna—thanks to her research on using messenger RNA (mRNA) to enable the body to produce proteins. “Once I’m in the lab, researching, I’m a zillion times better positioned than anyone in the world,” she says with determination in her eyes.
“There is a story my family likes to tell,” begins her 2023 book, Breaking Through: My Life in Science, translated into 12 languages. As a child, she was fascinated by seeing her father perform a task she can’t remember. This marked the beginning of her interest in how living things work. She was born in the 1950s in Kisújszállás, a town in central Hungary, where she grew up as the daughter of a butcher. She recalls how her bed, her sister Zsuzsanna’s, and her parents János and Jánosné’s beds were so close they could hold hands at night. “Nothing in life is easy. If something comes easily, then you don’t appreciate it. You know, you have to work hard. That’s what I learned from my parents.”
Her first introduction to science was in elementary school, at a chemistry club run by one of her teachers. She built chemical elements using playdough and sticks there, sparking her scientific curiosity. “I had classmates who remembered everything. [I had] to go home and study.” Listening to her, it’s clear that her true talent lies in something way more important than memory: her ability to seek out “just one more thing.” That ability to ask a question, change just one variable, and ask again. Although her story includes many supportive people, she also faced adversities, challenges, and detractors along the way.
Just one more thing.
Katalin Karikó
From her office, with framed awards on the walls, Professor Karikó explains that some people opened doors for her while others tried to close them. While she received encouragement to pursue and apply her scientific curiosity from a young age, she also had a language teacher who told her he wouldn’t let her go to university. If, instead, he had told Katalin, “I know someone at the university and will make sure you get in,” she might not have studied so hard to ensure she was the best. What she could do was focus, block out distractions, and work. “We have to remember that there are many things in life, like the weather, that we cannot change. It’s better to focus on our own actions.”
It’s better to focus on our own actions.
Katalin Karikó
She spent decades facing financial instability, long workdays, and time away from her husband, Béla, and their daughter, Susan. During this period, she studied at the University of Szeged. She did research at the Biological Research Centre of Szeged, benefiting from access to low-cost childcare and Béla’s support in sharing responsibilities. Eventually, she fled communist Hungary with her family, carrying only £900 hidden inside Susan’s teddy bear. She joined Temple University in the United States and later the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), where she met Professor Drew Weissman. They shared an interest in mRNA research and later won the Nobel Prize in Medicine together.
At UPenn, despite being underestimated for her approach, she continued her research without seeking recognition. “I did all the experiments with my own hands” due to a lack of funding to hire staff or students in her lab. Doctor Elliot Barnathan, a colleague at the university, supported her research. Likewise, Doctor David Langer, whom Katalin met when he was a medical student, spent 17 years trying to convince the university not to fire her, even after he moved to New York City.
I did all the experiments with my own hands.
Katalin Karikó
The book The Stress of Life by Doctor Hans Selye, an Austro-Hungarian physiologist and physician, taught her not to focus on what worries most people. Karikó decided to focus on being happy and doing what she does best: taking the next step, questioning, asking, and exploring. She admits that this mindset can be difficult for many who expect recognition. “But I didn’t. I didn’t want to be recognized. I was very happy without any award.“
In the spring of 2013, she arrived at her UPenn lab to find all her belongings in the hallway. After losing her job, she joined BioNTech, a little-known company based in Mainz, Germany, which didn’t even have a website at the time. “I just walked through the parking lot, sat in my car, and after 24 years, I left. If I hadn’t been fired, the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine probably wouldn’t exist.” At BioNTech, for the first time in her career, she stopped personally conducting every experiment and began leading a research team focused on using mRNA to combat various diseases.
I just walked through the parking lot, sat in my car, and after 24 years, I left. If I hadn’t been fired, the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine probably wouldn’t exist.
Katalin Karikó
Katalin faced numerous obstacles to make her research a reality. Still, she acknowledges that these challenges helped her reach where she is today. “You don’t have to spend time feeling sorry for yourself. You have to focus on what’s next. The most important thing is to be happy with what you’re doing.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus spread rapidly, and BioNTech partnered with Pfizer to develop an unprecedented vaccine. Clinical trials began in April 2020, and the vaccine was in phase III by the end of that year. Their remarkable accomplishment was developing a new vaccine in record time and utilizing the groundbreaking mRNA platform.
Karikó explains that hundreds of ongoing studies use mRNA technology beyond what was achieved with the COVID-19 vaccine, including research on malaria and the possibility of combining multiple vaccines into one. This means that a single vaccine could protect us against various diseases in the future. Additionally, research is being conducted to combat bacterial infections like tuberculosis and Lyme disease and to treat genetic disorders by encoding proteins that some people produce at low levels due to mutations. Cancer therapies are also being developed.
Rowing is a physically demanding sport, but as Susan would tell you, it’s also mental.
Katalin Karikó
Her mindset also influenced her daughter Susan, who, like Katalin, is known for her tenacity. Susan has won two Olympic gold medals and has been a world champion five times. “Rowing is a physically demanding sport, but as Susan would tell you, it’s also mental.” Sports teach discipline, which is essential in any profession, especially science. It teaches you to be consistent, accept failure, and keep pushing daily to improve. “Self-confidence is key. We need to instill this mindset in younger generations.” True success comes from the effort made every single day.
More than the award, I’m an honest scientist.
Katalin Karikó
Winning the Nobel Prize has secured Katalin Karikó a place in history. TIME magazine named her and Drew Weissman Heroes of the Year in 2021. Future generations will likely study her work, just as we learn about Rosalind Franklin, Francis Crick, and James Watson today. What stands out the most is that Katalin has remained humble and down-to-earth despite her success. “More than the award, I’m an honest scientist, like many others who are honest but not recognized. I represent all those who are pushed aside and keep doing what they do because they believe what they’re doing is important,” she concludes when asked how she hopes to be remembered.
