Hungarian-born biochemist Katalin Karikó, an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania, received the Semmelweis Budapest Award on Thursday.
Semmelweis University rector Béla Merkely said at the awards ceremony that thanks to Karikó, “today we live in a safer world because we have a weapon against the Covid-19 virus, which caused the pandemic, and it can be utilised much faster in case of a new pandemic”. Karikó, who used to be vice president of BioNTech, which has led research on mRNA-based medicine since the 1990s, has played a major role in developing new vaccination strategies which have been used in the fight against Covid-19., “Founded in 2009, the Semmelweis Budapest Award serves to recognise the achievements of an international researcher working in the field of medical biology, whose research activities have produced internationally acknowledged results, contributed to the benefit of humanity, and opened up new ways of understanding living natural science,” the university said on its website.
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Photo: MTI/Zoltán Balogh
