Why in news? The 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine has been awarded to Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó and American physician-scientist Drew Weissman.

Highlights:

• They were awarded for discoveries concerning nucleoside base modification that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.
• Karikó is only the 13th woman to win the prize.

What are mRNA vaccines ?

• An mRNA vaccine is a type of vaccine that uses a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA to produce an immune response rather than part of an actual bacteria or virus.
• Messenger RNA is a type of RNA that is necessary for protein production.
• Once cells finish making a protein, they quickly break down the mRNA. mRNA from vaccines does not enter the nucleus and does not alter DNA.

About Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

• Presented by – Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute
• Reward(s) – 11 million SEK (2023)
• First awarded – 1901
• First awardee
  • Emil von Behring, for his work on serum therapy and the development of a vaccine against diphtheria.
  • First woman was Gerty Cori, for her role in elucidating the metabolism of glucose.
• Features
  • Award is restricted to maximum number of nominees to three for any one prize
  • Prize consists of a medal along with a diploma and a certificate for the monetary award.

Nobel Prize in physics

• France’s Pierre Agostini, Hungarian-Austrian Ferenc Krausz and French-Swedish Anne L’Huillier won the Nobel Prize in physics

Highlights:

• They awarded for “experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter.”
• Researchers used ultra-quick light flashes that enable the study of electrons inside atoms and molecules.
• Experiments helped to produce pulses of light so short that they can be measured in attoseconds, means that the pulses can be used to provide images of the processes inside atoms and molecules

About Nobel in Physics

Presented by – Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Reward(s) – 11 million Swedish kronor

First awarded – 1901

Most awards – John Bardeen (2)

Features

• A maximum of three Nobel laureates and two different works may be selected for the Nobel Prize
• Prize consists of a medal along with a diploma and a certificate for the monetary award.