Nobel Prize-Winning Researcher Discusses Vaccine Development and Preparing for Another Pandemic

To mark five years since the start of the pandemic, the Boston Globe interviewed Massachusetts born-and-raised scientist, Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research, whose monumental mRNA foundational research laid a path to the historic COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. He spoke about his early days at Penn and the lifesaving research he did with his longtime research partner Katalin Karikó, PhD. He also discussed the potential promise of universal vaccines to prevent a host of viruses like all coronaviruses or all influenzas—including those that may prevent future pandemics.