The Fifth Edition of the King's E-Lab Annual Nobel Prize Series with Katalin Karikó
As part of our Nobel Prize series, join us for our fifth Nobel Prize lecture with Kati Karikó, whose research was crucial to the development of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, as she discusses her journey and breaking barriers in the field.
Speaker Bio:
Katalin Karikó is professor at University of Szeged and adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania. From 2013 to 2022 she was a senior vice president at BioNTech. Prior to BioNTech, she worked for 24 years at the University of Pennsylvania.
For decades, her research has been focusing on RNA-mediated mechanisms with the goal of developing in vitro-transcribed mRNA for therapy. She co-founded and served as CEO of RNARx. Her patents on nucleoside-modified uridines in mRNA were used to create the FDA-approved COVID-19 mRNA vaccines by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna. For her achievement Karikó received many prestigious awards, including the Japan Prize, the Horwitz Prize, the Tang Prize, the Canada Gairdner Award, the Breakthrough Prize, the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award and the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Her daughter, Susan Francia, is a 2-time Olympic champion rower.
WHEN: Tuesday, 19th June 2026
5.30 PM – 6.30 PM: Fireside chat followed by Q&A
6.30 PM - 7.00PM: Networking and drinks reception
WHERE: King’s College, Cambridge