Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

No research funding, no experimental group, several times deprived of tenure, Nobel Prize work has been rejected by Nature / Science.

The experience of the latest physiology / medicine prize winner Katalin Karik ó (Katalin Carico) has attracted a lot of attention, and many people have been moved by her 40-year scientific enthusiasm.

The mRNA vaccine method she developed with Weissman (Waisman) has changed decades of scientific understanding that "mRNA cannot be used in clinic" and laid the foundation for future vaccination against various fatal diseases.

But at that time, no one cared. And because she did not get financial support, she was demoted by the University of Pennsylvania and kicked out of the lab.

Now under the blessing video claimed by the school, Penn University has been furiously sprayed by netizens: you should apologize. You didn't play any role in this matter.

Others joked that it was harder to get funding than to get a Nobel prize.

Stripped of his teaching post several times for more than four decades, Professor Carico has been exploring how to use mRNA to treat stroke, cancer and flu.

I have always enjoyed my work, I said in an interview two years ago. I imagined that I could cure all diseases.

She is the daughter of a butcher and bookkeeper and is supposed to have no scientific genes, but she has been fascinated by natural science since she was a child and won third place in the national biology competition at the age of 14.

She first began her research on mRNA in 1978 at the Segud Center for Biological Research, a laboratory in Hungary, when she received her doctorate from the University of Segud.

In 1985, her position in the research center was terminated because of no financial support and no good scientific research results. Then she chose to move her family to the United States. She worked at Temple University for a while before moving to Penn as an assistant professor of research.

According to my recollection: "every night I was working: funding, funding, funding; the result was always no, no, no." Her first research grant proposed the use of mRNA for gene therapy, which has always been her research interest.

At that time, the academic community actually had a lot of expectations for mRNA, because it could guide human cells to produce certain protein characteristics, and if mRNA could be synthesized artificially, it could guide the body to better fight disease.

In 1990, researchers at the University of Wisconsin successfully played a role in mice. But there is always an indelible obstacle in humans: the injection of mRNA will cause a human immune response, leading to a failure.

It was precisely because of this academic awareness that her application for scientific research funding was repeatedly rejected, and finally she was forced to be demoted on her way to tenure in 1995.

Usually, at that time, people will say goodbye and leave, because it's terrible.

It was not until she met Professor Waisman, another Nobel laureate this year, that her research continued as a junior researcher.

At that time, Professor Waisman was in urgent need of new methods to develop HIV, and various experiments had failed over the years.

A chance encounter in front of the photocopier made Professor Waisman decide to try this marginal idea with Carico. Of course, he doesn't have any new funding, which is started by seed money provided by the university for new faculty and staff.

Finally, years of exploration has found that cells can protect their mRNA through specific chemical modifications. So they decided to make the same change in the synthesis of mRNA and inject it into the cell.

And it really worked! MRNA is successfully absorbed by cells without causing an immune response.

This is also the main reason for winning the Nobel Prize.

Their breakthrough findings fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with the immune system.

But at first, the study did not attract the attention of scientists, "only two lecture invitations, that's all."

After receiving rejections from more than a dozen journals, including Nature and Science, the paper was finally accepted by Immunity.

"long-term investment in basic research is very important." after the two scientists won the prize, members of the Nobel Committee commented:

This discovery opened a new chapter in medicine. Investment in long-term basic research is very important.

Others predicted that she would win the Nobel Prize two years ago, and now it has finally come true.

In the first-class blessing of the Qing Dynasty, there are also many applications for scientific research funding.

Some netizens said at the bottom of Penn University: this is a good reflection. Why she was demoted to you, but achieved so much in the future.

What do you think of this matter?

Reference link:

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1074761305002116

[2] https://twitter.com/ClaireCMcKinney/status/1708932705377714521

[3] https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1336297449506430977

[4] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/redemption-one-scientists-unwavering-belief-mrna-gave-world/

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