• The Nobel Prize for 2023 in the field of medicine or physiology will be jointly awarded to Hungarian-American professor Katalin Kariko and American professor Drew Wiseman.
• These two scientists developed technology that made it possible to manufacture m-RNA based Covid vaccines.

 Background -

• Professor Kariko and Professor Wiseman have been working at the University of Pennsylvania for a long time.
• Both of them have been honoured with many awards for their research, including the prestigious Laskar Award in 2021.

​m-RNA based Covid vaccines -

• These vaccines prepare the body's immune system to fight viruses or bacteria.
• M-RNA technology is different from traditional vaccines.
• When a virus or bacteria attacks our body, this technology sends a message to our cells to make proteins to fight that virus.
• This provides the necessary protein to our immune system.
• During the Covid pandemic, the Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines were based on mRNA technology.

​About Nobel Prize -

• The Nobel Prizes were established by 19th century Swedish businessman and chemist Alfred Nobel.
• The first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901.
•   The Nobel Prize ceremony is held every year in December in Stockholm, Sweden.
• The Peace Prize is given annually in Oslo (Norway).
• Every Nobel laureate receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a monetary award.
• First Indian to receive the Nobel Prize: Rabindranath Tagore, for Literature (1913)
• First Indian woman to receive the Nobel Prize: Mother Teresa, for peace (1979)

 Categories of Nobel Prize -

• These awards are given in 6 categories:
• Physics
• Chemicals
• Physiology or medicine
• Literature
• Calmness
• Economics

 Exam oriented Static facts

• Nobel Prize in Medicine/PhysiologyNobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology 2021: David Julius and Ardem Patapotian
• For his discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.
• Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology 2022: Svante Pääbo
• For research in the field of genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.