SZTE hosts international mRNA conference in November
Several top researchers, including Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, will present at the mRNA conference to be held in Szeged on November 7-8, 2024, the University of Szeged announced at a press event on Thursday, September 12. One of the conference's keynote speakers, Nobel Laureate Professor Katalin Karikó, joined the briefing online.
Katalin Karikó, Drew Weissman, Özlem Türeci, and Uğur Şahin, the co-winners of the Novo Nordisk Prize 2022, have received, in addition to the prize money, funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the world's richest corporate philanthropic foundation, to organize a scientific conference.
"The Novo Nordisk Foundation, which used to support researchers mainly in the Nordic countries – Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark – is one hundred years old. A few years ago, it started to open up to the rest of the world," said Katalin Karikó at the press briefing at the Rector's Office on Thursday.
Professor Karikó also explained how Szeged was chosen as the venue for the conference: "After us, in 2023, the prize was awarded to British researchers whose conference was held in London. Inspired by this, the Novo Nordisk Foundation realized that it would be much better not to hold all the events in Denmark, but in the same country as the researcher's home institution. They chose SZTE because I received the award as a professor at the University of Szeged." The Nobel laureate professor pointed out that the University of Szeged received a prize of 1 million 125 thousand Danish kroner, which is the equivalent of about 60 million forints. This will be used to build an animal house and carry out further research.
"We are looking forward to the conference in two months. I am a molecular biologist myself, so I know that the mRNA-based technology developed by Professor Karikó and her research colleagues is at the forefront of biomedical research. The presentations at the November event will show the incredible further potential of mRNA-based technology not only for vaccines but also for other biomedical research and development," said Prof. Dr. Márta Széll, vice-rector for strategy at the University of Szeged. "We are delighted that we will be able to listen to two days of lectures from the world's leading researchers here in Szeged. This will be a fantastic inspiration for colleagues who are researching similar topics at the University of Szeged," she added.
Photos: Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify
One of the main organizers of the mRNA conference in Szeged is Prof. Dr. Attila Gácser, head of the Institute of Biology at the University of Szeged. As he said, he is in the fortunate position of being able to consult regularly with Katalin Karikó, from whom he receives useful advice on his research topics. "mRNA technology is the Swiss army knife of medical development, as it has a wide range of applications. At the moment it is mainly used in the fight against infections and tumors, but we would also like to use it, for example, to develop therapies that motivate the immune system. The range of researchers who may be interested in the November conference is very broad, including physicians, biologists, pharmacists, and almost everyone who works on health issues," Prof. Gácser told participants of the press briefing.
The mRNA conference, "unique in Hungary and of outstanding importance in Central and Eastern Europe" will be hosted by the University of Szeged on November 7-8, 2024. As the vice-rector explained, it is a great honor for SZTE and the Hungarian research community that Katalin Karikó, her Nobel Laureate American research colleague Drew Weissman, and the CEO of BioNTech, Uğur Şahin will visit Szeged, and give a lecture on the occasion of the international meeting. They will be joined by 13 other leading mRNA researchers from the UK, USA, France, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Switzerland, and universities in Hungary. The speakers will present the latest advances in the field. The conference will be attended by Martin Ridderstråle, Senior Vice President of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Jørgen Frøkiær, Chairman of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Prize Committee.
The website for the mRNA conference in Szeged is now live and registration is open.
