Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023 Explained: All you need to know

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023 Explained: We are made up of billions of cells, and our bodies have a remarkable system in place known as the immune system.

This system can distinguish between self and non-self, helping to protect us from harmful invaders.

When a foreign agent, such as a bacterium ???? or a virus ????, enters our body, the immune system plays a crucial role in recognizing it and mounting an appropriate defense response.

What makes our immune system special is its ability to remember these encounters.

It does this by producing specific molecules called antibodies in response to specific foreign agents.

This memory helps our immune system respond faster and more effectively if it encounters the same pathogen again.

This memory-based protection is the foundation of vaccination.

For centuries, we have used weakened or inactivated pathogens (harmless forms) for vaccination.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023 Explained: So, what sets mRNA vaccines apart?

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Our cells store all genetic information in DNA (think of it as a memory chip).

This information is then converted into mRNA (another type of chip), which is used to produce proteins based on the instructions contained in DNA.

Since these newly produced proteins are foreign to the human body, they trigger an immune response if encountered.

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It would generate memory and help our bodies deal with any real encounter with that virus effectively.

That’s the essence of mRNA vaccination, and the spike protein from SARS Cov-2 was selected for the development of mRNA vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, there were challenges in creating an effective mRNA vaccine, and these challenges were addressed by the 2023 Nobel Laureates in Physiology and Medicine Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for which they have been awarded The Nobel Prize.

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mRNA transcribed outside the body (???????? ????????????????????) often triggered an inflammatory response and didn’t efficiently produce the intended protein.

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Kariko and Weissman discovered that modified bases in mRNA (the molecules that contain information coded in DNA) could escape the immune system’s recognition and improve protein expression.

Their work made a significant contribution to the development of effective mRNA vaccines.

The two most effective and fastest mRNA vaccines Pfizer and Moderna were developed against SARS-CoV-2 using mRNA technology.