Katalin Karikó received university professor title at SZTE

Katalin Karikó at her latest visit to SZTE on April 16, 2024. Photo: Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify

Nobel laureate Katalin Karikó has been appointed as a university professor at the University of Szeged, SZTE announced in a press release.

The world-renowned mRNA researcher obtained her doctorate in biochemistry at the University of Szeged in 1982 and is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she worked for 24 years. She was vice president of the German BioNTech for 9 years. Katalin Karikó, who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2023, has been a research professor at the University of Szeged (SZTE) since 2021.

As a researcher, she has focused on RNA-based mechanisms for four decades, and the ultimate goal of her work is the development and therapeutic application of in-vitro-modified mRNA. She studied RNA-induced immune activation and discovered with her colleague that nucleoside modifications dampen the immunogenicity of RNA, which broadened the therapeutic applications of mRNA. She co-invented a patent with Drew Weissman on nucleoside-modified uridines in mRNA, which was used in mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

Her achievements as a researcher, her scientific virtues, and her human attitude have been recognized by more than a hundred scientific and social awards, as well as the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which she received jointly with her fellow researcher Drew Weissman. Katalin Karikó holds an honorary doctorate from eighteen universities, including her alma mater, SZTE, and is a member of ten academies, including the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

In a decision published in the Hungarian Gazette on May 31, 2024, the President of the Republic of Hungary, on the unanimous initiative of the SZTE Senate, appointed Katalin Karikó, research professor of the SZTE Interdisciplinary Center of Excellence, as a university professor - on the recommendation of the Minister of Culture and Innovation. Based on this, Katalin Karikó continues her work as a professor at the Faculty of Science and Informatics of SZTE, the press release concludes.

Source: SZTE Press