Arguably an important pair of 21st century geniuses, Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman have had a profound impact on modern medicine and directing our post pandemic society. So much so, they won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine because of their creative product and advancements in the field. Without these Big C creatives, there would not be a post “Quarantine Era” and greater push towards vaccine research.
Born in 1955, Katalin Kariko grew up and received her education in Hungary. She accomplished her PhD in 1982 from Szeged University. Afterwards, Kariko spent time working on postdoctoral research at Temple University. Then, she was appointed Assistant Professor at University of Pennsylvania. Following her most recent activity, she became vice president and senior vice president at BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals.
Drew Weissman was born in 1959 where he grew up in Lexington Massachusetts. He received a MD and PhD from Boston University. Following his academics, Weissman focused on clinical training and postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania. Weissman is a Professor of Vaccine Research and the Director of the Penn Institute for RNA Innovations.
Together, their creative product was their discoveries in base modifications for mRNA which became the foundation of COVID-19 vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna’s.
Before the pandemic, Vaccines were predominantly based on injecting individuals with a killed or weakened version of the virus. (Feel free to watch the animation above to provide a visual and understand the principle behind it.) To put it in perspective for us, Max Theiler was given a Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1951 for producing the Yellow Fever Vaccine which utilized this mechanism. Although it mostly worked, Weissman and Kariko saw that this type of vaccine was outdated and very demanding. It focused on the virus as a whole which required a significant amount of work and detail to produce an effective counter to viruses. Additionally, the vaccine immune response was not as strong as it could be. With this, Weissman and Kariko began their studies to find a better alternative that would be able to change vaccines for the better.
For 15 years at Penn Medicine, Kariko and Weissman tested ways to see if mRNA would be a step in the right direction. They used the modification of mRNA and lipid delivery to trigger an immune response similar to the traditional vaccine. Their creative discoveries led to reduced inflammatory response and higher protein production against specific antigens. (I uploaded another video that visualizes the mechanism of an mRNA vaccine if it helps to better understand.) Rather than focusing on the virus as a whole, their vaccine focused on specific viral components found in the virus and used mRNA as the means to recognize and generate a strong response against the virus. The mechanisms they discovered were what ultimately was utilized for creating the COVID-19 vaccine and other mRNA vaccines.
In this Penn Medicine interview, Kariko and Weissman talk about their research which reveals their creative process. Their efforts to find a creative solution to improve vaccines reflect the Geneplore model in many ways. The mRNA vaccine was produced because of 2 phases in their research: Generation and Exploration. Their work was under product constraints, producing an effective vaccine with the knowledge known in their respective fields of biology and medicine. Throughout their process they diverged out thinking about the possibilities mRNA could have beyond the vaccine. Weissman states in the interview that they would have never anticipated their research to go up against a pandemic - they were curious to apply mRNA in the field of medicine. Then they used convergence to find which way best serves product constraints. Kariko describes the excitement of finding a way to make the mRNA noninflammatory, making mRNA safe, effective, and useful for fighting against viruses. By achieving this, the pair made further studying of mRNA possible for many like minded medical professionals and researchers.
Kariko and Weissman’s research relates to Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being in several ways. A quarter of the way through the book, Rubin mentions how nature and our surroundings provide us with the wisdom to awaken possibilities within us. If Kariko and Weissman did not use the strength of their respective fields and creative processes, they would not have been able to find a better solution for vaccines. Additionally, Rubin mentions that the world is constantly changing, finding new ways to have us as people evolve. Kariko and Weissman saw that the traditional vaccine was good for its time, but there needed to be more done in order to successfully move forward in medicine. Finally, Rubin tells us that we do not necessarily have to live an extraordinary life in order to share something, sometimes inner world experiences are just as important. Kariko and Weissman’s research was not in the pursuit of fame, wealth, or praise, they simply saw that a change needed to be made and they poured their creative efforts to solve a problem.
Ultimately, Kariko and Weissman are creatives who used generation and exploration to discover the mechanisms to make an effective mRNA vaccine that would help others in need.
The mRNA research done by Kariko and Weissman is super fascinating to read about. Of course, the pandemic ramped up the research's significance, but regardless the advancement of vaccine technology is interesting and something I didn't know about. I'm also reading Rubin's book, and I agree with your assessment of their process. As scientists at Penn, they are able to employ a creative process similar to what Rubin describes to explore mRNA biology.
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