"Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó will receive the 2022 Helmholtz Medal of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences for her pioneering biochemical work," it was announced in Germany.
Katalin Karikó laid the foundation for the development of effective mRNA-based therapies and vaccines with her research. In the press release, it was highlighted that he won the recognition "with particular regard to the rapid development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2", i.e. the vaccine linked to the German company BioNTech and the American company Moderna.
Katalin Karikó's life path is described in detail - including her university studies in Szeged - in the justification of the academic award in Germany.
"Since 2004, Katalin Karikó has published on specific mRNA modifications (some with Drew Weissman) that can significantly reduce unwanted sequence-independent immune reactions". This was a fundamental discovery that revealed an entirely new dimension of RNA regulation and anti-RNA defense in the mammalian immune system.
"Many publications on RNA modifications were published between 1990 and 2010, but Katalin Karikó's discovered method of replacing uridines with pseudouridines was the key to successful therapy. Katalin Karikó's research contributed significantly to the fact that immune cells can be stimulated with mRNA in such a way that they protect the body from aggressive tumors."
The summary emphasizes that Katalin Karikó "fundamentally changed medicine with her creative and persistent basic research. With the prize, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences also encourages those scientists who, with persistent research and in addition to current funding priorities, establish applications that benefit society."
The Helmholtz Medal is an award of the German Academy that recognizes outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities and social sciences, mathematics, natural sciences, biology, medicine and technical sciences.
The first four laureates of the Helmholtz Medal, founded in 1891, were nominated for recognition by the namesake, Hermann von Helmholtz, a German physician and physicist. Since the first ceremony in 1892, among others, the Nobel Prize-winning brain researcher Santiago Ramón y Cajal; Max Planck, considered the founder of quantum physics; Philadelphia-born linguist Noam Chomsky; two chemists of Hungarian origin, John C. Polányi and Á Somorjai. Gábor also won the award.
The Helmholtz Medal has been awarded every two years since 1994. Katalin Karikó will receive the Helmholtz Medal at the academy in Germany on June 4, 2022, Leibniz Day.
Additional information about Katalin Karikó, research professor, honorary doctorate and alumna of the University of Szeged, is available on the SZTE News Portal and on the website of the SZTE Klebelsberg Library .
Source: magyarhirlap.hu. Opening image: MTI/Zsolt Czeglédi
