The story behind the COVID formula

By C. Moura

It all started when Katalin Karikó went to the US and met Drew Weissman. When Karikó met him, he was creating a formula for the HIV vaccine. Meanwhile, she told him to use the method she was researching that still wasn't very successful. But, she believed that this message could open new doors for medicine. After searching for a long time, they finally knew what they needed to do to find the COVID-19 formula.

For the solution, they needed the DNA. Then the RNA test started, who orders the DNA test as a messenger. Then the RNA goes to the cell to and 'tells' her to protect herself from the virus.

Interestingly, they didn’t even needed the virus in hand, just it’s genetic sequence. Also, did you know that the technique discovered by Karikó and Weissman speeds up a lot of development of a vaccine, and could in the future help in combating other infections, disease, and certain types of cancer? 

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