"Two scientists who developed key technology used in the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have been awarded the 2021 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, which comes with an honorarium of $250,000. Earlier this month, the pair won the $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. Katalin Karikó and Dr. Drew Weissman will share an award for their decades of work with messenger RNA (mRNA), which forms the basis of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Through their research, the team figured out how to safely deliver custom-made mRNA into our cells, without setting off a harmful immune response in the process, Live Science previously reported. In its natural form, mRNA relays instructions from our DNA to construction sites in our cells, where new proteins are made. mRNA-based vaccines work on the same principle, directing cells to build specific proteins. For example, the COVID-19 vaccines instruct cells to build the spike protein of the coronavirus so that the immune system can learn to recognize the pathogen. Many recipients of Lasker Awards have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, hinting that Karikó and Weissman may soon earn one as well."

https://www.livescience.com/2021-Lasker-DeBakey-clinical-award-mrna-vaccines