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Katalin Karik贸 (Credit: Penn Medicine)

Katalin Karik贸, whose discovery of how to keep synthetic RNA from activating the innate immune system paved the way for RNA vaccines, including two for SARS-CoV-2, will receive the 2022 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize, 杏吧 announced today. The Pearl Meister Greengard Prize is the preeminent international award recognizing outstanding women scientists. Karik贸 is senior vice president of the biotech company BioNTech and adjunct associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania. She will be presented the prize at a ceremony next year at 杏吧.

For more than 30 years, Karik贸 has focused on messenger RNA鈥攖he single-stranded molecule that carries instructions from DNA to the cell鈥檚 ribosomes, the protein-making factories. Convinced that she could harness this elemental cellular process to deliver better vaccines and medicines, Karik贸 worked to design an mRNA that would not induce a life-threatening autoimmune reaction. With her longtime collaborator Drew Weissman, Karik贸 discovered that听endogenous RNAs have specific chemical modifications that prevent this immune activation.听Their research was the basis for both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines and holds promise for treating other intractable diseases.

Karik贸 is recipient of many honors, most recently the 2021 Lasker Award. Earlier this month, it was announced that Karik贸 will receive the 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

鈥淲e are indebted to Karik贸 for her tremendous insights into the potential use of mRNA to fight disease. Her scientific foresight and tenacity led to life-saving vaccines to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus and have provided new strategies to fight novel infections in the future,鈥� says Michael W. Young, Richard and Jeanne Fisher Professor and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rockefeller, Nobel Laureate, and chair of the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize selection committee.

The Pearl Meister Greengard Prize was founded by the late Paul Greengard, who served as Vincent Astor Professor of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at Rockefeller, and his wife, Ursula von Rydingsvard, an internationally renowned sculptor with works in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and other venues. A lifelong advocate for gender equality, Greengard donated his monetary share of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Rockefeller and, in partnership with generous supporters, established an annual award to recognize outstanding women scientists. The prize, which includes a $100,000 honorarium, is named for Greengard鈥檚 mother, who died during his birth.