Since the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901, by 2022, a total of 954 individuals have received it, and 989 persons and organizations have been reached by the repetition. These changes motivated the academic development of people who contributed to fields with great impact on the rest of humanity.

dr. Katalin Karikó has just received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Dr. Drew Weissman. It is interesting that Dr. Karikó, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), has not received recognition for her great work from this university for years. On the contrary, Karikó accepted her position as an associate professor and also had to deal with cancer which affected her new levels of research. However, after he won the Nobel Prize, the university recognized his great achievement and rose to a very prestigious level. This is one of the criteria that can be observed even at top universities where support and development can be influenced by other factors. However, great academic achievement in the university world can have a greater impact than on the immediate cohort and this is part of the risk that researchers can take to achieve a long-term outcome.

Among the most important decisions for Karikó and Weissman are how to ensure that mRNA, or messenger RNA, the genetic material that tells the body how to make proteins, is able to interact with the immune system. In 2005, these authors published an article that did not gain much importance, but later its value increased significantly, supporting the development of humanity to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. His contribution unexpectedly helped the development of vaccines in one of the periods of greatest health risk for humanity. In practice, mRNA vaccines along with other vaccines against COVID-19 have been administered to over 13 billion people. As a result of this perspective, millions of lives have been saved by preventing COVID-19, reducing the risk of disease and enabling societies to open up to the rest of humanity.

(…) the development of the Nobel Prize had a great impact on scientists with long-term politics…

Penn patented the mRNA technology, while Karikó and Weissman tried to license it to their biotech company, but failed to get the prices the school demanded. Penn made this technology license available by charging more than ten million dollars to various companies that make coronavirus vaccines such as Pfizerr, BioNTech and Moderna.

The resistance that Penn and other researchers had to Karikó was heightened by the risk that the mRNA results had to face for several years. However, highly recognized and well-known researchers are accepted in the main research areas.

In conclusion, the development of the Nobel Prize has had a great impact on scientists who have a long-term policy and are able to include development risks and solutions for humanity. (OR)