mRNA Vaccine Design and Delivery to Immune Cells

Prof. Ugur Şahin, M. D. is a physician-scientist, immunologist and one of the world’s foremost researchers on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) medicines. His research focusses on the understanding of the molecular nature of human tumour antigens, novel concepts and technologies to exploit and redirect adaptive and innate immune effector functions for therapeutic purposes. He is Co-Founder and CEO of BioNTech and co-inventor of more than 900 granted patents. Şahin’s academic credentials include serving as a Full Professor (W3) in Translational Oncology & Immunology at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and Helmholtz Professor for mRNA cancer immunotherapy in Mainz, where he was the supervisor for more than 50 PhD students. He also holds the role of Chairman of the Scientific Management Board of the Helmholtz Institute for Translational Oncology (HI-TRON) which is based in Mainz, Germany. Şahin has received numerous prestigious awards for his contributions to science.
Photo courtesy of BioNTech SE, 2022 (photographer: Stefan Albrecht)

Eric Huang, Ph.D., is the General Manager and Chief Scientific Officer of Moderna Genomics, an independent research and business unit for genomic medicines founded by Moderna. In this role, Dr. Huang is responsible for setting the portfolio strategy, creating a product pipeline and a robust discovery engine, and building a new high-performing team. He was formerly the CSO of Moderna’s New Venture Labs, an internal incubator where a select group of scientists explores novel clinical applications of Moderna’s mRNA technology. Moderna’s infectious diseases vaccine platform that led to the COVID-19 vaccine was conceptualized under Dr. Huang’s leadership. Prior to joining Moderna in 2012, Dr. Huang held several positions within business and corporate development at biotechnology companies including Seaside Therapeutics, Stromedix, and Domantis.

Dr. Huang obtained his Ph.D. degree in Molecular and Medical Parasitology from New York School of Medicine and MBA degree from Boston University. He received his B.S. degree from Emory University.

Katalin Karikó, PhD, is Senior Vice President of BioNTech SE where she started to work in 2013. She is also professor at University of Szeged and Adjunct Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, where she worked between 1989 and 2013. She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from University of Szeged in 1982. For four decades, her research has been focusing 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. This groundbreaking work unlocked the opportunity for the therapeutic use of mRNA. Her patents, co-invented with Drew Weissman on nucleoside-modified uridines in mRNA is used to create the FDA-approved COVID-19 mRNA vaccines by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna. For her achievement she received many prestigious awards, including the Japan Prize, the Breakthrough Prize and the Lasker Award.

Prof. Özlem Türeci, M.D., is a physician, immunologist, and cancer researcher with translational and clinical experience. Türeci´s research focus covers the discovery of cancer antigens as well as the research and development of mRNA-based vaccines and immunotherapies. She is co-inventor of more than 500 granted patents. Türeci is Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of BioNTech SE and has led the clinical development of BioNTech’s successful effort to develop a safe and effective mRNA-based vaccine against COVID-19, a historic achievement completed in less than one year. Türeci previously served as CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Ganymed Pharmaceuticals AG, which she co-founded with Prof. Ugur Şahin, M.D. and Prof. Christoph Huber, M.D. The company was acquired by Astellas in 2016. She is also a Professor for Personalized Immunotherapy at the University Medical Center Mainz and the Helmholtz Institute for Translational Oncology Mainz (HI-TRON) and currently serves as President of the Association for Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT) in Germany. Türeci has received numerous prestigious international awards for her scientific achievements.
Photo courtesy of BioNTech SE, 2022 (photographer: Stefan Albrecht)

Drew Weissman, M.D., Ph.D. is a professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. He received his graduate degrees from Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Weissman, in collaboration with Dr. Katalin Karikó, discovered the ability of modified nucleosides in RNA to suppress activation of innate immune sensors and increase the translation of mRNA containing certain modified nucleosides. The nucleoside-modified mRNA-lipid nanoparticle vaccine platform Dr. Weissman’s lab created is used in the first 2 approved COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. They continue to develop other vaccines that induce potent antibody and T cell responses with mRNA–based vaccines. Dr. Weissman’s lab also develops methods to replace genetically deficient proteins, edit the genome, and specifically target cells and organs with mRNA-LNPs, including lung, heart, brain, CD4+ cells, all T cells, and bone marrow stem cells.