Decades of mRNA research by Abington biochemist Dr. Katalin Karikó have proven to be crucial in the development of both COVID-19 vaccines, writes Dana Kennedy for the New York Post.

Karikó, who immigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1985 and is the mother of Olympic gold medalist Susan Francia, spent four decades obsessively researching synthetic messenger RNA. This was something that was considered by many to be a boring dead-end.

During that time she was constantly overlooked, demoted, fired, and refused grants, among other indignities.

“Yes, I was humiliated quite a bit but now you can see that I was right all along,” said Karikó. “I’m just so happy I lived long enough to see my work bear fruit.”

Even now when her work is helping some make billions, her share is significantly smaller, “maybe $3 million,” she said.

The piece of the puzzle she contributed to the vaccines came about in 2005 when she – along with University of Pennsylvania immunologist Drew Weissman – discovered a method to prevent the body’s inflammatory response to synthetic mRNA.

Years later, this method has paved the way for both the BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

Read more about Katalin Karikóat the New York Post by clicking here.