The 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine was jointly awarded to Dr. Katalin Karikó (born in 1955 in Hungary) and Professor Drew Weissman (born in 1959 in Massachusetts, USA) - two scientists whose discoveries contributed to the creation of a new line of vaccines, laying the foundation for the development of vaccines to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, according to international media, this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine has forgotten Professor Pieter Cullis (University of British Columbia, Canada) - an important piece along with Dr. Kariko and Professor Weissman in the mRNA vaccine research. Meanwhile, these three scientists have received the VinFuture Main Prize 2021.
The trio of scientists, Professor Pieter Cullis, Dr. Katalin Karikó and Professor Drew Weissman (from left to right) contributed to creating a new vaccine line that was awarded the VinFuture 2021 Main Prize.
Business in Vancouver analyzed that it may be due to the Nobel Prize process, in which the nominators Ms. Karikó and Mr. Weissman may not have fully appreciated the essential contribution Mr. Cullis made to mRNA vaccines.
“For many in the scientific community, the surprise was not that Ms. Karikó and Mr. Weissman won the grand prize, but that their colleague, Mr. Pieter Cullis (Vancouver, Canada), was not named the winner ,” commented Business in Vancouver.
Together, Dr. Katalin Karikó, Prof. Drew Weissman and Prof. Pieter Cullis have invented the platform technology to produce COVID-19 vaccines that have saved millions of lives around the world . Ms. Karikó and Mr. Weissman's main field is to design messenger RNA (mRNA) to become active ingredients in vaccines. Meanwhile, Mr. Cullis' role is to create a system to deliver these active ingredients into human cells.
“I think the Nobel Committee thought that the delivery system (of Professor Cullis's work) had been around for a long time, but they didn't fully understand that this delivery system was actually very new, necessary, and the only system that could get mRNA into cells,” said Mick Hope, a colleague who has known Professor Pieter Cullis since the 1970s.
Business in Vancouver also quoted the assessment of Ali Tehrani, founder of Zymeworks (one of the largest biotechnology companies in Vancouver, Canada) and many entrepreneurs and investors expressing their confidence that Professor Pieter Cullis is fully deserving of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Professor Pieter Cullis (University of British Columbia, Canada).
Previously, three scientists Dr. Katalin Karikó, Prof. Drew Weissman and Prof. Pieter Cullis were awarded many major prizes: Thailand's Prince Mahidol Prize in Medicine (worth 100,000 USD); Canada's Gairdner Foundation Prize worth 100,000 USD or Taiwan's (China) Tang Prize worth 1.7 million USD and a grant of 350,000 USD for future research.
Notably, according to Business in Vancouver, the biggest award that the trio of researchers were honored with was the 2021 VinFuture Prize in the Main Prize category worth $3 million. This is an award that has resonated with the world not only because of the value of the award but also because of its great practical significance in serving humanity.
By honoring three scientists who created breakthrough vaccine technology to help billions of people on earth, Dr. Katalin Karikó, Prof. Drew Weissman and Prof. Pieter Cullis, the VinFuture Prize is considered to have had more comprehensive, practical and far-sighted criteria than other long-standing awards in the world.
Ha Cuong
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