Scientists behind mRNA vaccines win Nobel Prize in Medicine

• It now underpins one of the most successful tools against COVID to date.

What they're saying: "The laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times," the Nobel Prize committee said.

The big picture: Weissman and Karikó discovered a method to use mRNA, which carries instructions for making proteins, for vaccines and other therapies.

• The research partners produced variants to mRNA so that it could be used for vaccines without alerting the body's immune system.
• But their work, published in 2005, initially flew under the radar, and they failed to gain traction for years before two companies — Moderna and BioNTech — took an interest in the technology.

Details: Weissman is a professor in vaccine research at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine.

• Karikó was a senior vice president at BioNTech, and now works as a professor at Szeged University in Hungary and an adjunct professor at Perelman.
• The two professors "are brilliant researchers who represent the epitome of scientific inspiration and determination," Penn President Liz Magill said Monday.

Go deeper: COVID-19 brings a new dawn for messenger RNA vaccines

Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from Penn President Liz Magill.