So too, with mRNA as a vaccine vehicle. Most would agree that the most dogged pursuit, and most relevant break-throughs, belong to Katalin Karikó. That story is mostly told here. [Merck's efforts are featured as well, there.]
But I write -- perhaps uncharitably, to point out that this guy is simply NOT the "inventor" of mRNA. He's not. And it is galling -- that he takes such an unhelpful approach, in the face of a global pandemic -- with over 5 million now dead; and 700,000 Americans alone. So I will leave this here, for posterity. He is... a delusional egomaniac. Blinded by his myopia:
. . .Years later, Malone followed the Harvard team’s tactics to synthesize mRNA for his experiments. But he added a new kind of liposome, one that carried a positive charge, which enhanced the material’s ability to engage with the negatively charged backbone of mRNA. These liposomes were developed by Philip Felgner, a biochemist who now leads the Vaccine Research and Development Center at the University of California, Irvine. . . .
As for linchpin technologies, many experts highlight another innovation that was crucial for mRNA vaccines — one that has nothing to do with the mRNA. It is the tiny fat bubbles known as lipid nanoparticles, or LNPs, that protect the mRNA and shuttle it into cells. . . .
This technology comes from the laboratory of Pieter Cullis, a biochemist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and several companies that he founded or led. Beginning in the late 1990s, they pioneered LNPs for delivering strands of nucleic acids that silence gene activity. One such treatment, patisiran, is now approved for a rare inherited disease. . . .
Now you know. . . onward, smiling at the mouth-watering aromas. . . of fresh vanilla / dates / nuts and a fine rising dough, snaked out in a pair of Bundt pans, and stacked doubly-tall -- all baking, in my kitchen now. . . .
नमस्ते
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