From a Teddy Bear to the Nobel Prize: Katalin Karikó’s mRNA Revolution
pplpod · pplpod
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Show Notes
In this episode of pplpod, we profile Katalin Karikó, the Hungarian-American biochemist whose decades of resilience laid the scientific groundwork for the mRNA vaccines that helped contain the COVID-19 pandemic. We trace her incredible journey from growing up in a home without running water in Hungary to immigrating to the United States in 1985, smuggling her family's life savings inside her daughter's teddy bear.
We explore how Karikó persisted despite facing rejection and skepticism from the scientific community, including a 1995 demotion by the University of Pennsylvania, where her work on mRNA was underfunded and deprioritized. Listeners will learn about her pivotal collaboration with immunologist Drew Weissman; together, they discovered how to modify mRNA nucleosides to suppress immune responses, a breakthrough that enabled the development of the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Finally, we cover Karikó's ultimate vindication, from the publication of her memoir, Breaking Through, to receiving the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and her election to the US National Academy of Sciences in May 2025. Join us for a story about the woman who refused to give up on a scientific idea that changed the world.