Katalin Karikó, PhD, is professor at University of Szeged, Hungary, and adjunct professor of neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, where she worked for 24 years. She is a former senior vice president of BioNTech SE, Mainz, Germany, where she worked between 2013 and 2022. She received her PhD in biochemistry from University of Szeged in 1982. For four decades, her research has focused on RNA-mediated mechanisms with the ultimate goal of developing in vitro-transcribed mRNA for protein therapy. She investigated RNA-mediated immune activation and co-discovered that nucleoside modifications suppress immunogenicity of RNA, which widened the therapeutic potentials of mRNA. She co-founded and from 2006 to 2013 served as CEO of RNARx, a company dedicated to developing nucleoside-modified mRNA for therapy. Her patents — for application of non-immunogenic, modified RNA — co-invented with Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, were used to create the FDA-approved COVID-19 mRNA vaccines by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna to fight the pandemic. For her achievements she has received many prestigious awards, including the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.