Katalin Karikó

Katalin Karikó is a Hungarian-born scientist whose research on mRNA technology helped pave the way for COVID-19 vaccines. She dedicated her career to understanding how to safely and effectively use messenger RNA to instruct cells to produce proteins, a breakthrough crucial for vaccine development. Despite facing many setbacks and skepticism early on, her persistence and innovative work contributed significantly to the rapid creation of effective mRNA-based vaccines such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Her contributions have had a profound impact on medicine, opening new possibilities for vaccines and treatments against various diseases.