On December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death, Dr. Katalin Karikó and Dr. Drew Weissman received the medal from King Carl Gustaf XVI of Sweden at the Stockholm Concert Hall. The XXXIII Nobel Session at MUW took place a day later.
The profiles of the scientists and the importance of their research were presented by Prof. Dominika Nowis in her presentation titled Always Going Against the Grain - about the discoveries that made it possible to develop a vaccine against COVID-19.
The second speaker, Dr. Marcin Kruk, President of the Polish Society for Safe Pharmacotherapy, spoke about the production of mRNA vaccines and their safety.
Meanwhile, Prof. Tomasz Sobierajski of the Institute of Applied Social Sciences UW reflected on public perceptions of vaccinations and the reasons for distrust or reluctance to use them.
The tradition of the Nobel Sessions
The ceremony was organized by the Faculty of Medicine MUW and hosted by its Dean, Professor Rafal Krenke.
- The initiative to ceremonially honor the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was born in 1991, when the dean of the First Faculty of Medicine was Prof. Andrzej Karwowski. Subsequently, this mission was developed by five subsequent deans - recalled Prof. Krenke.
Prof. Zbigniew Gaciong, the Rector, also referred to the more than 30-year tradition of the Nobel Sessions, noting that he has participated in these meetings from the very beginning.
- This is our local celebration of science. Taking advantage of the awarding of the Nobel Prize, we have the opportunity to listen to excellent lecturers, experts in a particular field. This is first-hand knowledge at the highest level - the Rector said.
About this year's Nobel laureates and their discovery
This year, discoveries regarding the nucleoside bases of mRNA were recognized, which made it possible to eliminate inflammatory reactions in dendritic cells when modified mRNA was introduced into them. Consequently, this allowed the development of effective mRNA vaccines, including a vaccine against COVID 19. The results of the groundbreaking research were published in 2005.
- Dr. Katalin Karikó and Dr. Drew Weissman met in 1997 at the now-famous photocopier at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. - Their collaborative efforts began with work on an HIV vaccine, said Prof. Dominika Nowis. - Katalin Karikó began creating therapeutic mRNA for HIV proteins. Together with Drew Weissman, they added this mRNA "packaged" in lipids to cultures of human dendritic cells, which have the ability to activate T lymphocytes. And then they encountered a major problem. They observed that the introduction of the mRNA into the dendritic cells causes them to activate very strongly and secrete large amounts of tumor necrosis factor alpha. This factor - is a cytokine that participates in the development of inflammation - the speaker explained.
And she continued: From these studies, the researchers concluded that mRNA prepared in this way could not be administered to humans. So they did methodical work to find out what to do so that mRNA administered to a cell would not have such effects. Katalin Karikó synthesized mRNA with pseudouridine in a test tube, and it turned out that this RNA inserted into cells is not reactogenic, that is, it does not induce that reaction mentioned earlier. Then it was shown for many other uridine modifications. Among others, for N1 methyl pseudouridine, which was found in both mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.
-Therapeutic possibilities of mRNA obviously go beyond vaccine applications, Prof. Nowis stressed. - We can use mRNA to introduce enzymes, ion transporters, cytokines, monoclonal antibodies into the body, or even edit the genome in a living organism.
Vaccine safety surveillance
Dr. Marcin Kruk, in his presentation "Pharmacovigilance of the COVID 19 vaccine," recalled the emotions of early 2020. - fear and uncertainty. He also cited WHO data that until now COVID-19 has caused 7 million deaths worldwide, including 119,000 in Poland.
Dr. Kruk focused on how pharmacovigilance was conducted in the case of the mRNA vaccine against COVID 19. He presented the databases where drug safety information is collected. He also argued how challenging it was during the pandemic to monitor all data on adverse reactions to the mRNA vaccine, when there were unprecedented numbers of such reports.
Why people didn't want to get vaccinated against COVID 19
- We had a great medicinal product, but people didn't want to be vaccinated - said Prof. Tomasz Sobierajski of the Institute of Applied Social Sciences UW. In his presentation entitled "Social Dilemmas and Scientific Facts in the Perception of Vaccination, that is the Last Crusade of Aragorn," he pointed out what the reasons for the reluctance to vaccinate were.
- One of the biggest problems of modern humanity is that we have Paleolithic brains, medieval institutions and divine technologies - said Prof. Sobierajski, quoting Prof. Edward. O. Wilson - and these issues are sometimes very difficult to put together. We think we are rational, meanwhile we rationalize. We act as a result of intuition and temptation - the professor stressed.
So for what reason did people not vaccinate or have doubts about whether to vaccinate against COVID-19? Professor Sobierajski analyzed dozens of articles from around the world on this topic. And he picked out several correlations. Reluctance to vaccinate was more often expressed by those with right-wing views and religious beliefs than those with left-wing views. X (the former tweeter) users were more willing to vaccinate than those using YouTube. In Asia, single people were more reluctant to vaccinate (in Europe or America, this dependency was not present). Most important, however, were issues of public trust.
- The higher the public trust, the higher the vaccination rate was. In Poland, social trust and trust in public institutions are at a very low level, and therefore the vaccination rate was also quite low - said Prof. Sobierajski. - It is difficult for us to understand new technologies, many of which we simply have to believe in.
Finally, the professor mentioned that he himself became involved in informing on vaccination. Then he collided with a wave of hatred. Every day for more than a year he received messages threatening him and his family with death. On the other hand, a group of fans formed on the Internet to defend Prof. Sobierajski, and he earned the nickname Aragorn.
Among those present at the XXXIII Nobel Session were: Prof. Piotr Pruszczyk, Vice Rector for Science and Technology Transfer; Prof. Paweł Włodarski, Vice Rector for International Relations, Development and Promotion; Prof. Marek Kuch, Vice Rector for Student Affairs and Education; Prof. Marek Krawczyk, Rector of MUW from 2008 to 2016; Dr. Łukasz Czyżewski, Vice Dean for Nursing at the Faculty of Health Sciences; Prof. Grzegorz Nałęcz-Jawecki, Chairman of the Council for the Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Prof. Michal Grąt, Director of the Doctoral School; Prof. Maciej Słodkowski, Director of the Center for Postgraduate Education; members of the Council of the Faculty of Medicine, including vice deans of the Faculty of Medicine; Jolanta Ilków, Bursar; representatives of the MUW Student Scientific Society and representatives of the MUW Doctoral Student Government.
The Recording of the Nobel Session on YT
