The huge potential of mRNA technology

The new technology made its name when it delivered Covid-19 vaccines in record time. But it could be pressed into use in many other areas too. Simon Wilson reports.

Katalin Karikó: a pioneer in mRNA technology.
Messenger RNA (ribonucleic acid) is a polymeric molecule
(Image credit: ⒸShutterstock)

What are mRNA vaccines?

Conventional vaccines work by training the immune system to recognise and fight viruses or bacteria by introducing an inactivated form of a virus (one that has been rendered harmless) into a patient’s body. However, the biotechnology used in the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer/ BioNTech and Moderna is fundamentally different. The aim is the same: to train the immune system to recognise and fight off the virus. But these new vaccines accomplish this by using synthetic “messenger RNA” to deliver a snippet of viral code to your body in order to teach your immune system what the relevant disease-causing virus looks like. Then, if your system encounters the virus, your body is primed to mount a defence using specialised antibodies and T-cells.

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Simon Wilson’s first career was in book publishing, as an economics editor at Routledge, and as a publisher of non-fiction at Random House, specialising in popular business and management books. While there, he published Customers.com, a bestselling classic of the early days of e-commerce, and The Money or Your Life: Reuniting Work and Joy, an inspirational book that helped inspire its publisher towards a post-corporate, portfolio life.   

Since 2001, he has been a writer for MoneyWeek, a financial copywriter, and a long-time contributing editor at The Week. Simon also works as an actor and corporate trainer; current and past clients include investment banks, the Bank of England, the UK government, several Magic Circle law firms and all of the Big Four accountancy firms. He has a degree in languages (German and Spanish) and social and political sciences from the University of Cambridge.