- Swiss voters reject environment, pensions reforms: projected results
- Israel says 'landed blows' on Hezbollah as Lebanon violence intensifies
- Roma CEO steps down amid anger over club icon De Rossi's sacking
- Incoming French government under pressure on multiple fronts
- Hezbollah rockets strike near Israel's Haifa as UN warns of 'catastrophe'
- Haddad Maia roars back to beat Kasatkina in Korea Open final
- All-rounder Ashwin powers India to 280-run Test win over Bangladesh
- Failed Springbok 'gamble' sets up rugby championship decider
- Lebanon strikes send Israelis to shelters as UN warns of 'catastrophe'
- Far-right AfD eyes new win in east German state vote
- Tony Popovic set to become new Socceroos coach - reports
- All-round Ashwin powers India to big Test win over Bangladesh
- NZ chase 275 to win first Sri Lanka Test after Patel bags six
- Ashwin bags six wickets as India hammer Bangladesh in first Test
- Nascent French government under pressure on multiple fronts
- Angry French cognac makers see red over Chinese tariffs threat
- Protect the prosciutto: Italy battles swine fever
- UN holds 'Summit of the Future' to tackle global crises
- Marxist leader set to become Sri Lanka's next president
- From blades to pull-up bars: UK charity tackles knife crime
- Swiss vote on pensions and environment protections
- No pain, no gain: Chinese pro wrestlers fight for recognition
- UAE leader seeks to deepen 'strategic' ties in US visit during Mideast crisis
- Hezbollah takes heavy hits but still fighting Israel
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- All Blacks coach Robertson demands better finishing
- Argentina edge South Africa to keep title hopes alive
- Biden says China 'testing us,' in hot mic remarks to Quad allies
- Dubois destroys Joshua to retain IBF world heavyweight crown
- Guardiola says critics want Man City wiped 'from face of the Earth'
- Biden says 'Quad' is 'here to stay' despite challenges
- Dubois knocks out Joshua to retain IBF world heavyweight crown
- Vinicius helps 'faster' Madrid overturn stubborn Espanyol
- Zelensky to press US on long-range missile strikes inside Russia
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- Israeli jets pound Lebanon after deadly Beirut strike
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- France's Macron appoints new government in shift to right
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- Kane, Olise run riot as Bayern thump Bremen
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Drew Weissman, Nobel-winning mRNA pioneer
Drew Weissman's decades of research into mRNA technology paved the way for Covid-19 vaccines, finally earning a Nobel prize for the physician-scientist.
The 64-year-old University of Pennsylvania immunologist, who won the Nobel Medicine Prize along with long-time collaborator Katalin Kariko on Monday, is far from done.
His next quests include, among others, developing a vaccine against all future coronaviruses.
"There have been three (coronavirus) pandemics or epidemics in the past 20 years," Weissman told AFP recently, referring to the original SARS virus, MERS and Covid-19.
"You have to assume there's going to be more, and our idea was that we could wait for the next coronavirus epidemic or pandemic, and then spend a year and a half making a vaccine. Or we could make one now."
- Twin breakthroughs-
The world is now aware of the elegance of the mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccines, that deliver genetic instructions to cells telling them to recreate the spike protein of the coronavirus, in order to trigger effective antibodies when they encounter the real thing.
But back when Weissman teamed up with Kariko in the 1990s, the research was considered a scientific dead-end, and working with DNA was considered a more promising avenue.
"We started working together in 1998, and that was without much funding and without much in the way of publications," he said.
In 2005, the pair found a way to alter synthetic RNA to stop it from causing a massive inflammatory response found in animal experiments.
"Just before our paper was published, I said 'Our phones are going to ring off the hook,'" he recalls.
"We sat there staring at our phones for five years, and they never rang!"
With a second big breakthrough in 2015, they found a new way to deliver the particles safely and effectively to their target cells, using a fatty coating called "lipid nanoparticles."
Both developments are part of the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines today.
- Helping people -
Weissman grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts.
His father and mother, both since retired, were an engineer and dental hygienist, respectively.
"When I was five years old, I was diagnosed as a type-one diabetic, and back then it was testing urine and taking insulin shots a few times a day," he recalled, and this motivated him to pursue science.
He was educated at Brandeis University and completed an MD-Phd program in immunology at Boston University.
As a young fellow at the National Institutes of Health, he worked for several years in Anthony Fauci's lab on HIV research, before finally arriving at his long-time home Penn.
Weissman was a practicing doctor until a few years ago, and says it brings him great joy that his invention has helped save millions of lives.
"I'm a clinician scientist, my dream since starting college and medical school was to make something that helps people. I think I can say that I've done that. So I am incredibly happy," he said.
Beyond vaccines, mRNA technology is also being heralded for its potential across medicine.
Weissman's team is working on using RNA to develop a single-injection gene therapy to overcome the defect that causes sickle cell anemia, a genetic blood disease that 200,000 babies are born with in Africa every year.
Significant technical challenges remain to ensure the treatment is able to correctly edit genes and is safe, but the researchers are hopeful.
Bone marrow transplant, an expensive treatment with serious risks, is currently the only cure.
O.Johnson--AMWN