Irvine, Calif., Oct, 2, 2023 — The Nobel Prize committee awarded this year’s honor in physiology or medicine to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman of the University of Pennsylvania for research leading to mRNA vaccines. But it’s also worth noting that their discoveries were significantly helped along by the contributions of Phillip Felgner, UCI professor in residence of physiology & biophysics, whose work in the 1990s explored the use of mRNA as a potential vaccine platform.

In fact, the advanced scientific information the Nobel committee posted for the award mentions Felgner’s contributions to the development of these vaccines.

Felgner directs UCI’s Vaccine Research & Development Center, and previously he received the 2022 Robert Koch Prize and Spain’s Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research for his contributions to the creation of mRNA vaccines.