Covid-19: Co-inventor of mRNA shots works on new vaccine against all coronaviruses
- Immunologist Drew Weissman and his team started work on the project last spring and one of the vaccines was shown to prevent Sars
- Weissman and his long-time collaborator Katalin Kariko on Thursday were announced as joint winners of the 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
The University of Pennsylvania immunologist, who on Thursday shared the US$3 million 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences with his long-time collaborator Katalin Kariko, is now spearheading efforts to design a new vaccine against all coronaviruses.
The Silicon Valley-backed award honours major discoveries with the highest cash amounts in science.
“There have been three [coronavirus] pandemics or epidemics in the past 20 years,” Weissman said, 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 and have it either ready to go, or use it now.”
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The 62-year-old and his team started work on the project last spring and have so far published two papers, with promising results.